The fact that men and women experience sexual attraction toward their opposite-sex friends has been evidenced in various studies. It has also been shown that there is a close parallel between preferences for opposite-sex friends and mate preferences, i.e., that men prioritize physical attractiveness of their OSFs, while women prioritize their male friends’ ability to provide protection and economic resources. Although this mating activation hypothesis has been validated to an extent, there is hardly any research that points to moderating factors which would define the boundary conditions for these effects. We present two studies that involved heterosexual participants who were in a committed relationship and at the same time had a heterosexual opposite-sex friend. We investigated how both the qualities of one’s current partner and the qualities of one’s opposite-sex friend shape sexual interest in opposite-sex friends for men and women. Results mostly support the mating activation hypothesis. We show that within actual cross-sex friendships: 1) physical attractiveness of opposite-sex friends predicts sexual interest toward them, and this effect is stronger for men than women, 2) current partner’s attractiveness, provided support, and relationship satisfaction moderate this effect only for women, and not men, 3) perceived financial resources of opposite-sex friends predict sexual interest toward them for highly sexually unrestricted women, and, surprisingly, for those who are in committed relationships with high-income men. The results reaffirm previous evidence indicating that perceptions of opposite-sex friends can be viewed as a manifestation of evolved human mating strategies.

各种研究都证明了男性和女性对异性朋友产生性吸引力的事实。研究还表明，对异性朋友的偏好与配偶偏好之间存在密切的相似性，即男性优先考虑其 OSF 的身体吸引力，而女性优先考虑其男性朋友提供保护和经济资源的能力。虽然这种交配激活假说已经在一定程度上得到验证，几乎没有任何研究指出调节因素可以定义这些影响的边界条件。我们提出了两项​​研究，涉及异性恋参与者，他们处于坚定的关系中，同时有一个异性恋异性朋友。我们调查了一个人当前伴侣的品质和一个异性朋友的品质如何影响男性和女性对异性朋友的性兴趣。结果大多支持交配激活假说. 我们表明，在实际的跨性别友谊中：1) 异性朋友的身体吸引力可以预测对他们的性兴趣，并且男性的这种影响比女性强，2) 当前伴侣的吸引力、提供的支持和关系满意度缓和了这种影响仅针对女性，而不是男性，3) 感知到的异性朋友的经济资源可以预测对性兴趣高度不受限制的女性对他们的性兴趣，而且令人惊讶的是，对于那些与高收入男性保持忠诚关系的人。结果再次证实了先前的证据，表明对异性朋友的看法可以被视为进化的人类交配策略的表现。