Based on conceptual extrapolations from sociobiological models concerning the significance of secondary sex characteristics as markers of a female's capacity to produce and nurture offspring, we reasoned that men's greater unwillingness to reproduce would be linked to preference for a female body type characterized by the relative absence of such markers. Heterosexual undergraduate men (N = 67) indicated their ideal (most arousing) female body type on-line by means of an adjustable female figure. As expected, the desire to remain childfree was linked to erotic preference for a combination of smaller breasts and larger waist-to-hip ratio. Additional research into individual factors that map onto variations in the preferred body proportions of erotic targets is thus encouraged.

Self-expansion without regard for others' well-being may represent the dark side of an otherwise healthy motive. Guided by Amoebic Self-Theory (AST), we developed the Engulfing Self Scale (ESS) to measure acquisitive tendencies across AST's three domains of the self. Four studies revealed that bodily engulfment appeared generally benign, and that the problematic aspects of social engulfment were generally restricted to interpersonal contexts. Spatial-symbolic engulfment motivation was linked to a breadth of problematic indices such as psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychological entitlement, social dominance orientation, economic system justification, greed, and valuation of power. It also predicted reluctance to expose a cheating group leader when doing so would threaten one's own positive outcomes, greater justification of a looter's behavior when prompted take his or her perspective, and greater justification of self-serving reward allocations after defeating an ostensible competitor. Spatial-symbolic engulfment may be a motivational fountainhead for behaviors that negate others' well-being.

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Because testosterone increases body hair growth and infertility in women, greater pubic hair expanse could function as a visual heuristic of female infertility for men. Heterosexual male Canadian undergraduate students (N ¼ 63) completed a measure of sociosexuality, rated their reactions to their own/a female partner's hypothetical sterility, and reported their arousal in response to a range of female pubic hair expanses (from completely bare to extending beyond the pubic mound). As hypothesized, although the absence of pubic hair was rated as most arousing overall (especially among higher sociosexuality scorers), men's greater comfort with a female partner's sterility predicted greater arousal in response to the most expansive female pubic hair patterns. Thus, along with breast size and waist-to-hip ratio, pubic hair expanse may be a secondary sex characteristic that can function as a visual heuristic of female (in)fertility among heterosexual men.