User:Anonymous Dissident/Sexual misperception

Sexual misperception is the failure of an individual to properly gauge the sexual interest of others in a particular social situation. As a social psychological phenomenon, sexual misperception has been the subject of much research since the early 1980s. While this research initially centred on the popularly acknowledged propensity for men to overestimate the sexual interest of women with whom they interact, its focus has broadened to include the sexual misperceptions of women as well as non-participatory observers.

Controlled experiments with sexual misperception typically require previously unacquainted participants to interact with each other in a prescribed setting, or to engage with stimuli such as written conversations, facial photographs, or simulated encounters between experimental accomplices. Their reactions, often self-reported via surveys, are then recorded and compared; scores on standards such as the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory are frequently used to draw correlative inferences. The inherent role of subjectivity, the potential for false self-report, the absence of universally understood distinctions between sexual interest and related constructs such as romantic interest, and the use of ambiguous survey terminology have been cited as weaknesses of this standard methodology.