Author Interviews, Psychological Science, Sexual Health / 05.04.2021
Regret May Not Be Useful When It Comes to Casual Sex
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair, Phd
Professor, Department of Psychology
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Trondheim, Norway
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We have two important lines of research running parallel: 1) research into casual sex research. Over several papers inspired by previous evolutionary studies on casual sex we map the proximate mechanisms involved in regret. However, the adaptive function of regret: more adaptive future choices, was not addressed. This is something that most people and most regret researchers just take for granted. Bendixen et al 2017, Kennair et al 2016, 2018. 2) Research into how worry and rumination is not adaptive and how changing metacognitions about these mental processes are helpful here and now, and how discontinuing these processes is an efficient treatment of GAD and MDD. Kennair et al 2017. Solem et al 2019.
We found that it was important to question whether regret indeed was adaptive and affected more adaptive future short-term sexual choices. However, this demands a longitudinal design and such data are not easy to collect.
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