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.

几十年来，女性性高潮一直是心理学家试图理解的一个谜。许多人认为女性性高潮是男性性高潮的无用副产品，而另一些人则认为女性性高潮本身可能是一种适应，提供了几种对女性性高潮的适应主义解释。在当前的研究中，我们测试了来自关于女性性高潮适应性功能的两个假设的预测：女性性高潮表明伴侣的配偶价值或女性性高潮促进长期的夫妻关系。199 名女大学生参与了一项实验，她们将自己想象为场景中提供的浪漫关系中的一员。在这些场景中，这种关系在短期或长期之间有所不同，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，被分配到经历更频繁性高潮的条件下的女性在短期和长期关系中报告了更高的关系满意度。女性性高潮频率与关系满意度之间的关系完全由女性对假想伴侣的感知爱来调节，而不是通过对假想伴侣承诺的感知来调节。综合起来，