Female orgasm has been a mystery that psychologists have been attempting to understand for decades. Many have contended that female orgasm is a functionless by-product of male orgasm, while others have argued that female orgasm may be an adaptation in its own right, offering several adaptationist accounts of female orgasm. In the current research, we tested predictions derived from two hypotheses regarding adaptive functions of female orgasm: female orgasm indicates partner mate value or female orgasm promotes long-term, pair bonding. 199 female undergraduates participated in an experiment where they imagined themselves as a member of a romantic relationship provided in a scenario. Within these scenarios, the relationships varied between either short- or long-term and the frequency that the female experienced orgasm during intercourse varied between never, occasionally, and almost always. Participants answered questions regarding relationship satisfaction and perceptions of the fictional relationship. A series of analysis of variance (ANOVAs) indicated that females assigned to conditions of experiencing more frequent orgasms reported greater relationship satisfaction, across both short- and long-term relationships. The relationship between female orgasm frequency and relationship satisfaction was fully mediated by the female's perceived love for her hypothetical partner but not by perceptions of her hypothetical partner's commitment. Taken together, this study provides preliminary support for the hypothesis that female orgasm evolved as a mate-selection tool for females and promotes long-term, pair bonding but does not provide support for the hypothesis that female orgasm evolved as an indicator of male value.

中文翻译：

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女性性高潮频率对女性择偶的影响：两个假设的检验。

女性高潮一直是心理学家几十年来一直试图理解的一个谜。许多人认为，女性高潮是男性高潮的无功能副产品，而另一些人则认为，女性高潮本身可能是一种适应，并提供了几种对女性高潮的适应论解释。在当前的研究中，我们测试了根据关于女性高潮适应性功能的两个假设得出的预测：女性高潮表明伴侣价值或女性高潮促进长期的伴侣关系。199 名女大学生参加了一项实验，她们将自己想象成场景中提供的浪漫关系的一员。在这些场景中，关系在短期或长期之间变化，女性在性交过程中经历性高潮的频率在从不、偶尔和几乎总是之间变化。参与者回答了有关关系满意度和对虚构关系的看法的问题。一系列方差分析（ANOVA）表明，经历更频繁高潮的女性在短期和长期关系中都表现出更高的关系满意度。女性高潮频率和关系满意度之间的关系完全由女性对其假设伴侣的爱的感知来调节，而不是通过对其假设伴侣的承诺的感知来调节。总而言之，这项研究为以下假设提供了初步支持：女性高潮进化为女性的择偶工具，并促进长期的配对关系，但没有为女性高潮进化为男性价值指标的假设提供支持。