Objectives: Research of sexuality often times includes individuals who choose to be researched and are willing to undergo the procedures. Samples of the population (students and self-selected enthusiasts) may not resemble the nation’s population structure nor the general idea of random human even though the psychological mechanisms researched are thought to be universal. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between proximal measures of domain specific and non-specific excitation and inhibition in two (probabilistic and non-probabilistic) samples. Sample and settings: The authors collected approximately 400 individuals from the Central European country – Czech Republic – via the specialized agency to match the probabilistic sample (stratified sample) and a second similarly sized sample (chance sample) via snowball sampling and online advertisements at the same time. The participants were asked to fill in two questionnaires widely used by sex researchers (Sexual Inhibition and Excitation Scale, and Sociosexual Orientation Inventory Revised), and one scale designed to map broader motivations to avoid aversive outcomes and motivation to approach goal-oriented outcomes (Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Scale). Hypotheses: The authors expected partial or complete confirmation of previously found results (general and sexuality specific activation and inhibition and sociosexuality), and also that the replication will be affected by the sample choice Statistical analyses: To follow methodologies of previous studies used to create hypotheses the authors decided to use partial correlation controlling for age of the participants. Results: Generally, the chance sample findings resembled the published results whereas the stratified sample showed bigger differences. The results, relying on correlational analyses as majority of studies does, provided a valuable insight to impact of sampling on results. Using the SEM methodology the study provided further support for the incomparability of the results obtained employing different sampling. Limitations: The sample size, thus larger than usual studies, could be higher.

The emergence of altruistic behavior constitutes one of the most widely studied problems in evolutionary biology and behavioral science. Multiple explanations have been proposed, most importantly including kin selection, reciprocity, and costly signaling in sexual selection. In order to test the latter, this study investigated whether people behave more altruistically when primed by photographs of attractive faces and whether more or less altruistic people differ in the number of sexual and romantic partners. Participants in the general population (N = 158, 84 F, 74 M) first rated the attractiveness of photographs of 20 faces of the opposite (sexually preferred) sex and then played the Dictator and Ultimatum Games (DG and UG). The photograph rating acted as priming; half the participants received photographs of people rated as more attractive than average in an earlier study, and the other half received photographs previously rated as less attractive. The attractiveness-primed participants, especially men, were expected to behave more altruistically-signaling that they are desirable, resource-possessing partners. We also expected altruists to self-report more sexual and romantic partners. The observed difference between altruistic behaviors in the attractiveness- and unattractiveness-primed groups occurred in UG offers, however, in the opposite than expected direction in women. The number of sexual partners was positively correlated to minimum acceptable offers (MAOs) in the UG, in line with expectations based on the theory of costly signaling.

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