The Coolidge Effect

Dr. X posts this from the Kinsey Institute for Rat Sexual Studies:

"No matter how sexually exhausted and uninterested a rat is in a current mate, if a novel female is introduced, the male will rise to the occasion and perform his fertilization duties. (Fiorino, 1997) This process can be continued until the gallant rat nearly dies. The neurochemical hangover discussed above is the key to understanding the 'Coolidge Effect.' As dopamine drops, the rat loses interest in his mate and copulation ceases. When a new partner appears, dopamine soars again and the rat revives long enough to deliver more genes.

"The "Coolidge Effect" has been observed in every species tested, and is not confined to males. Female rodents also prefer to seduce new mates, (Lester, 1988) except when oxytocin is injected into key parts of their brains, as we will see in a moment. Abundant anecdotal evidence suggests that the "Coolidge Effect" also manipulates humans. As a man from sensual Los Angeles once related, "I quit counting at 350 lovers, and I'm still confused as to why I lost interest in all of them sexually so quickly. Some of those women are really beautiful." His third wife had just left him for a Frenchman.

"Unless we consciously intervene, our neurochemistry programs us for intense passion followed by emotional alienation. Helen Fisher estimates that humans are designed to stay together less than four years, the time it takes to get a child on its feet. Across 58 cultures worldwide, she found that divorce rates peaked at this point."