Why cheaters often claim “it didn’t mean anything”, and why perceptions of what constitutes cheating vary from person to person. Also, changing faces: how women’s faces change shape over the menstrual cycle.

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Do women's faces change shape over the cycle? Sophie Dituri/Flickr

The articles covered in the show:

Foster, J. D., & Misra, T. A. (in press). It did not mean anything (about me): Cognitive dissonance theory and the cognitive and affective consequences of romantic infidelity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Read summary

Kruger, D. J., Fisher, M. L. E., R. S., Chopik, W. J., Fitzgerald, C. J., & Stout, S. L. (2013). Was that cheating? Perceptions vary by sex, attachment anxiety, and behavior. Evolutionary Psychology, 11(1), 159-171. Read summary

Oberzaucher, E., Katina, S., Schmehl, S. F., Holzleitner, I. J., & Grammer, K. (2012). The myth of hidden ovulation: Shape and texture changes in the face during the menstrual cycle. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 10(4), 163-175. Read summary

What better day to discuss attraction than Valentines? Here's a special episode with an interview I gave a couple of weeks ago. The conversation ranges from the influence of the media on what we perceive as attractive, to attractiveness and race, the appealing odour of male sweat, and why Brad Pitt is the perfect man.

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Is Brad your ideal Valentine? Yes. Yes, he is.

Why a red t-shirt is the same as a red bum, how a poor sense of smell affects your love life, and going "Facebook official": how the social network generation navigate the relationship minefield.

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It must be that time of the month for Kristen Stewart: new research shows that three quarters of women wearing pink or red are currently ovulating, making a pink dress almost as good an indicator of fertility as a chimpanzee's pink bum.

The articles covered in the show:

Beall, A. T., & Tracy, J. L. (in press). Women more likely to wear red or pink at peak fertility. Psychological Science. Read paper [pdf]

Croy, I., Bojanowskia, V., & Hummela, T. (2013). Men without a sense of smell exhibit a strongly reduced number of sexual relationships, women exhibit reduced partnership security – A reanalysis of previously published data. Biological Psychology, 92(2), 292-924. Read summary

Fox, J., Warber, K. M., & Makstaller, D. C. (in press). The role of Facebook in romantic relationship development: An exploration of Knapp’s relational stage model. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Read summary

This month, why a good sense of humour is sometimes attractive and sometimes not so much, how fruit consumption affects appearance, and why high heels elevate attractiveness.

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Stephen Merchant's stand up act is based on his apparent inability to win over women. But new research by Mary Cowan suggests that people's ideas about what constitutes a GSOH are more flexible than we previously thought. So keep plugging away, Smerch!

The articles covered in the show:

Cowan, M. L., & Little, A. C. (2013). The effects of relationship context and modality on ratings of funniness. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(4), 496-500. Read summary

Morris, P. H., White, J., Morrison, E. R., & Fisher, K. (in press). High heels as supernormal stimuli: How wearing high heels affects judgements of female attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

Whitehead, R. D., Ozakinci, G., & Perrett, D. I. (2012). Attractive skin coloration: Harnessing sexual selection to improve diet and health. Evolutionary Psychology, 10(5), 842-854. Read summary

This month, “it’s not you, it’s not me, it’s where we live”: how environment can influence break up decisions. Also, gender differences in sexual regret, and how video games can get a man in the mood for love.

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Cheat activated! Welling had men play a video game, but didn't tell them that the person they were playing against was cheating. Sneaky!

The articles covered in the show:

Hogerbrugge, M. J. A., Komter, A. E., & Scheepers, P. (in press). Dissolving long-term romantic relationships: Assessing the role of the social context. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Read summary

Galperin, A., Haselton, M. G., Frederick, D. A., Poore, J., von Hippel, W., Buss, D. M., et al. (in press). Sexual regret: Evidence for evolved sex differences. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

Welling, L. L. M., Persola, L., Wheatley, J. R., Cárdenas, R. A., & Puts, D. A. (2013). Competition and men's face preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(3), 414-419. Read summary

This month, we find out how the menstrual cycle influences competition and cooperation and why women’s sexual interest takes a nosedive after childbirth. We also ask the question: what’s the point of cuddling? Does it make us feel closer to our partner, or is it just a stepping stone to sex?

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"Ah, a nice cuddle. Cuddles are lovely. Not as lovely as sex, obviously..." Freestocks

The articles covered in the show:

van Anders, S. M., Edelstein, R. S., Wade, R. M., & Samples-Steele, C. R. (in press). Descriptive experiences and sexual vs. nurturant aspects of cuddling between adult romantic partners. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

Rupp, H. A., James, T. W., Ketterson, E. D., Sengelaub, D. R., Ditzen, B., & Heiman, J. R. (in press). Lower sexual interest in postpartum women: Relationship to amygdala activation and intranasal oxytocin. Hormones and Behavior. Read summary

Lucas, M., & Koff, E. (in press). How conception risk affects competition and cooperation with attractive women and men. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

The importance of attractiveness to reproduction, and of reproduction to happiness. And how an appreciation for physical beauty may be linked to a fear of falling ill.

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Lena Pflüger found this month that women who have had lots of children tend to have a feminine, more attractive face shape.

The articles covered in the show:

Pflüger, L. S., Oberzaucher, E., Katina, S., Holzleitner, I. J., & Grammer, K. (in press). Cues to fertility: perceived attractiveness and facial shape predict reproductive success. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

Onyishi, E. I., Sorokowski, P., Sorokowska, A., & Pipitone, R. N. (in press). Children and marital satisfaction in a non-Western sample: having more children increases marital satisfaction among the Igbo people of Nigeria. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

Watkins, C. D., DeBruine, L. M., Little, A. C., Feinberg, D. R., & Jones, B. C. (in press). Priming concerns about pathogen threat versus resource scarcity: dissociable effects on women’s perceptions of men’s attractiveness and dominance. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Read summary

Prokop, P., Rantala, M. J., Usak, M., & Senay, I. (in press). Is a woman's preference for chest hair in men influenced by parasite threat? Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

This month, why seeing red might have less to do with anger than attraction. We also discover if opposites attract when it comes to bodyweight, and find out how the way you walk is tied to your hormones.

If 14 minutes of me blathering on isn't enough for you, I gave an extended interview to Jose Drost-Lopez of Psychtalkradio.com this month. You can download a podcast of that interview here.

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It's that time of the month again! A composite photograph of women at ovulation (a) and later in the cycle when their fertility is lower (b), taken from a paper by Cora Bobst, which is out this month.

The articles covered in the show:

Elliot, A. J., Tracy, J. L., Pazda, A. D., & Beall, A. T. (in press). Red enhances women's attractiveness to men: First evidence suggesting universality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Read summary

Schwarz, S., & Singer, M. (in press). Romantic red revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Read summary

Faries, M. D., & Bartholomew, J. B. (in press). The role of body fat in female attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

Burke, T. J., Randall, A. K., Corkery, S. A., Young, V. J., & Butler, E. A. (in press). ‘‘You’re going to eat that?’’ Relationship processes and conflict among mixed-weight couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Read summary

Bobst, C., & Lobmaier, J. S. (in press). Men's preference for the ovulating female is triggered by subtle face shape differences. Hormones and Behavior. Read summary

Fink, B., Hugill, N., & Lange, B. P. (2012). Women’s body movements are a potential cue to ovulation. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(6), 759-763. Read summary

The Olympics are upon us, but what's the point of all that hard work? Except for the gold medals, glory and lucrative sponsorship deals that is. We also find out how a brief writing exercise can make you a sucker for a cheap chat up line, and why the Mormons had it right about polygamy the first time.

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Nice one, Mo. But seriously, what was the point? Jon Connell/Flickr

The articles covered in the show:

Brewer, G., & Howarth, S. (2012). Sport, attractiveness and aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(5), 640-643. Read summary

Lewandowski Jr, G. W., Ciarocco, N. J., Pettanato, M., & Stephan, J. (in press). Pick me up: Ego depletion and receptivity to relationship initiation. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Read summary

Starkweather, K. E., & Hames, R. (in press). A survey of non-classical polyandry. Human Nature. Read summary

An infidelity special! We look at three lines of research that shed new light on how we strive to save our relationships from those out to poach our partners, why some are disposed to be home wreckers while others aren’t, and how parenthood can blind us to our partner’s indiscretions.

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Two's company...

The articles covered in the show:

Starratt, V. G., & Shackelford, T. K. (2012). He said, she said: Men’s reports of mate value and mate retention behaviors in intimate relationships. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(4), 459-462. Read summary

Sunderani, S., Arnocky, S., & Vaillancourt, T. (in press). Individual differences in mate poaching: An examination of hormonal, dispositional, and behavioral mate-value traits. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

Bressan, P., & Dal Pos, S. (in press). Fathers see stronger family resemblances than non-fathers in unrelated children’s faces. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

We find out who’s lazier – men or women – and what this might mean for your love life. We also discover why men who are good with children prefer women with larger breasts, and why you should never trust a man who likes horror movies.

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Men prefer to lie in longer than women, but who gets more sleep overall? And what does sleep duration have to do with mating behaviour? We find out in this month's episode.

The articles covered in the show:

Randler, C., Ebenhöh, N., Fischer, A., Höchel, S., Schroff, S., Stoll, J. C., et al. (2012). Eveningness is related to men’s mating success. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 263-267. Read summary

Burris, C. T., & Munteanu, A. R. (in press). Preferred female body proportions among child-free men. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

Dosmukhambetova, D., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2012). Fear attenuated and affection augmented: male self-presentation in a romantic context. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 36(2), 135-147. Read summary

Why men are attracted to women who’ve necked a few too many Bacardi Breezers, how your reaction to dog poo is related to how you judge beauty, and why women’s sexual fantasies get kinkier towards the middle of the month.

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Bieber thinks you're ugly. New research out this month suggests that unattractive people appear especially unappealing to people who are sensitive to disgust in their everyday lives.

The articles covered in the show:

Goetz, C. D., Easton, J. A., Lewis, D. M. G., & Buss, D. M. (in press). Sexual exploitability: observable cues and their link to sexual attraction. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

Dawson, S. J., Suschinsky, K. D., & Lalumière, M. L. (2012). Sexual fantasies and viewing times across the menstrual cycle: a diary study. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41(1), 173-183. Read summary

Park, J. H., van Leeuwen, F., & Stephen, I. D. (in press). Homeliness is in the disgust sensitivity of the beholder: relatively unattractive faces appear especially unattractive to individuals higher in pathogen disgust Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary