Concealed fecundity and extended female sexual receptivity have evolved in some primates, including humans, conferring advantages both within primarily monogamous relationships (e.g., benefits from paternity assurance) and from extrapair liaisons (e.g., better access to good genes). As humans evolved the intellectual capacity for decision-making, women became capable of altering their own fertility. In some circumstances, they may choose to ameliorate risks and responsibilities associated with pregnancy by reducing sexual motivation near the perceived most fecund time of their menstrual cycle. But three findings—a general inability of women to accurately recognize their own intervals of fecundity, high variability in ovulation timing, and unconscious transmission and reception of cues associated with fecundity—constitute a physiological and behavioral syndrome that can be considered self-deception. In this study, I develop a descriptive model to determine implications of the hypothesis that these features of female and male physiology and behavior have been shaped by natural selection in response to female decision-making. My analysis shows that consensus motivation for coitus between partners influences both the importance of variable ovulation date and the probability of conception, under the influence of self-deception. It also identifies priorities for future empirical work.

隐蔽的繁殖力和扩展的雌性性接受能力已经在一些灵长类动物（包括人类）中进化，在主要的一夫一妻制关系（例如，从亲子关系中获益）和额外的配对（例如，更好地获得良好基因）中都赋予了优势。随着人类进化出决策的智力能力，女性变得能够改变自己的生育能力。在某些情况下，她们可能会选择通过在她们认为的月经周期中最容易受孕的时候减少性动机来减轻与怀孕相关的风险和责任。但是三个发现——女性普遍无法准确识别自己的生育间隔、排卵时间的高度可变性、自欺欺人。在这项研究中，我开发了一个描述性模型，以确定女性和男性生理和行为的这些特征是由自然选择对女性决策做出反应而塑造的假设的含义。我的分析表明，在自欺欺人的影响下，伴侣之间对性交的共识动机会影响可变排卵日期的重要性和受孕概率。它还确定了未来实证工作的优先事项。