The function of love: A signaling-to-alternatives account of the commitment device hypothesis

IF 3 1区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Evolution and Human Behavior Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106672

Benjamin Gelbart , Kathryn V. Walter , Daniel Conroy-Beam , Casey Estorque , David M. Buss , Kelly Asao , Agnieszka Sorokowska , Piotr Sorokowski , Toivo Aavik , Grace Akello , Mohammad Madallh Alhabahba , Charlotte Alm , Naumana Amjad , Afifa Anjum , Chiemezie S. Atama , Derya Atamtürk Duyar , Carlota Batres , Mons Bendixen , Aicha Bensafia , Boris Bizumic , Maja Zupancic

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Love is commonly hypothesized to function as an evolved commitment device, disincentivizing the pursuit of romantic alternatives and signaling this motivational shift to a partner. Here, we test this possibility against a novel signaling-to-alternatives account, in which love instead operates by dissuading alternatives from pursuing oneself. Overall, we find stronger support for the latter account. In Studies 1 and 2, we find that partner quality relative to alternatives positively predicts feelings of love, and love fails to mitigate the negative effects of desirable alternatives on relationship satisfaction—contradicting the classic commitment device account. In Study 3, using a longitudinal design, we replicate these effects and find that changes in partner quality relative to alternatives predict changes in love over time. In Study 4, we replicate the relationship between love and relative partner quality across 44 countries. In Study 5, we find a nearly one-to-one correspondence between the extent to which partner-directed actions are diagnostic of love and reductions in romantic alternatives' attraction to the actor. These results suggest that love may not act as a commitment device in the classic sense by disincentivizing the pursuit of alternatives but by disincentivizing alternatives from pursuing oneself.

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来源期刊

Evolution and Human Behavior 生物-行为科学

CiteScore

8.30

自引率

9.80%

发文量

审稿时长

82 days

期刊介绍： Evolution and Human Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal, presenting research reports and theory in which evolutionary perspectives are brought to bear on the study of human behavior. It is primarily a scientific journal, but submissions from scholars in the humanities are also encouraged. Papers reporting on theoretical and empirical work on other species will be welcome if their relevance to the human animal is apparent.