Discussion
The study of SDS has yielded several important results. First, we found a lack of
evidence for SDS effects in the traditional direction. Second, we found that people
were more discerning of a prospective mate's sexual history in long-term versus
short-term contexts and that women were more discerning than men. Third, we found
that participants showed some level of hypocrisy—being more cautious when making
appraisals for themselves compared to a same-sex friend. Fourth, we found that
sexual histories could be reduced to three factors: self-stimulation, promiscuity,
and cheating & controlling, and that these factors affected appraisals and were
the subjects of SDS and hypocrisy effects in different ways. Finally, we found
little evidence that covariates affected the pattern of the results in a meaningful
way. We now discuss these key findings in turn.