Abstract
Humans display a wide variety of mating strategies, ranging from short-term (promiscuous) strategies to long-term (monogamous) strategies. It has been previously suggested that certain personality factors, including individual differences in empathy, may be related to the pursuit of differing mating strategies. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationships between different forms of empathy and the inclination towards pursuing a short-term mating strategy, as indexed by sociosexuality. It was found that cognitive empathy abilities were positively associated with higher levels of sociosexuality, though much more so for individuals who were also high in affective empathy. When examining the various sub-components that make up sociosexuality, it was found this effect may be driven by the desire aspect of sociosexuality. It appears, therefore, that the ability to cognitively understand the emotional state of other individuals is related to promiscuous mating strategies, especially when combined with the ability to intuitively feel the emotions of the other individual.
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