The degree of novelty of both mating partner and mating situation can be of great importance to the sexual behavior of nonhuman animals under some circumstances. The "Coolidge effect" can be defined as the restoration of mating behavior in males that have reached sexual satiation with one female and show a restoration of mating behavior when the original female is replaced with a novel female. Information on the Coolidge effect has recently been used in extrapolations to human behavior, in attempts to predict monogamy in different species, and in a sociobiological context. The literature on the Coolidge effect is reviewed critically and various complexities and inconsistencies are discussed. Studies conducted utilizing different paradigms, including the Coolidge effect, changes of female prior to satiety, multifemale tests, between-test changes of female, changes of environment, and choice situations, should be consistently differentiated. Results differ as a function of species, paradigm, and testing conditions.