Project description:This 15-year longitudinal study investigated with follow-up data how romantic patterns from ages 16 to 24 are associated with romantic involvement and turnover (ages 25-30), romantic dispositions (age 30) and romantic relationships characteristics (age 30). A sample of 255 individuals (60.8% women) identified all their romantic partners between the ages of 16 and 24. Between ages 25 and 30, participants identified all their romantic partners and the length of each relationship. At age 30, they also completed a series of questionnaires regarding romantic dispositions and if it applied, characteristics of their current romantic relationship. Results indicated continuity in the romantic sphere from adolescence to established adulthood. At age 30, romantic patterns were associated with: avoidance of intimacy, jealousy, global romantic satisfaction, relationship status and the duration of the current romantic relationship. Together, these results bring new information on romantic development from adolescence to established adulthood.
Project description:Romantic first impressions seem to linger, but why? Few studies have investigated how romantic desire during initial interactions predicts later relational outcomes (e.g., later romantic interest, contact attempts) using a design that can tease apart different possible mechanisms (e.g., mate value, selectivity, compatibility). Across three speed-dating studies (n = 559) with longitudinal follow-ups (including college and community samples, and a sample of men who date men), we investigated whether different components of initial romantic impressions predicted later romantic outcomes and relationship initiation. Using the social relations model, we partitioned initial desire at speed dating (determined from 6,600+ total dates) into partner effects (a date's consensual desirability, e.g., mate value), actor effects (a participant's general desirousness, e.g., selectivity), and relationship effects (a participant's unique liking for a date over and beyond partner and actor effects, e.g., compatibility) to predict later evaluations (romantic interest, physical attraction, and desire to know better) and behaviors (direct messaging and going on dates). Meta-analyses across the three studies showed that, across 6,100+ follow-up reports, partner and relationship effects were especially strong predictors of relationship initiation variables. Consistent with evolutionary models of human pair bonding, these findings suggest that both consensually desirable traits and unique impressions of compatibility have lingering effects on relationship development, even from the moment that two potential partners meet.
Project description:In dominant theories of criminal desistance, marital relationship formation is understood to be a key "turning point" away from deviant behavior. Empirical studies supporting this claim have largely focused on the positive role of marriage in men's desistance from crime, and relatively few studies have examined the role that non-marital relationships may play in desistance. Drawing on 138 longitudinal in-depth interviews with 22 men and women reentering society from prison, this paper extends the scope of desistance research by additionally considering the significance of more fleeting and fluid relationships, and the diverse processes through which romantic relationships of all sorts are linked with criminal behaviors. We present an empirically-based typology detailing six processes, grouped within three conceptual categories, through which romantic relationships had their effects. These pathways include material circumstances, social bonds and interactions, and emotional supports and stressors. We also consider gender differences in these processes. While more tenuous bonds to marginally conventional partners would seem to exert little effect, as one of the few relationships and social roles available to many former prisoners, we found that they wielded important influence, if not always in a positive direction.
Project description:Patterns of phenotypic variation arise in part from plasticity owing to social interactions, and these patterns contribute, in turn, to the form of selection that shapes the variation we observe in natural populations. This proximate-ultimate dynamic brings genetic variation in social environments to the forefront of evolutionary theory. However, the extent of this variation remains largely unknown. Here, we use a member of the Enchenopa binotata species complex of treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae) to assess how mate preferences are influenced by genetic variation in the social environment. We used full-sibling split-families as 'treatment' social environments, and reared focal females alongside each treatment family, describing the mate preferences of the focal females. With this method, we detected substantial genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences. The mate preferences of focal females varied according to the treatment families along with which they grew up. We discuss the evolutionary implications of the presence of such genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences, including potential contributions to the maintenance of genetic variation, the promotion of divergence, and the adaptive evolution of social effects on fitness-related traits.
Project description:Adults with attachment insecurity often struggle in romantic relationships due to difficulties in emotion regulation (ER). One potentially influential yet understudied factor is the inflexible over-reliance on either intrapersonal (self-directed, e.g., suppression) or interpersonal (involving others, e.g., sharing) ER. This study investigates the association between attachment insecurity and flexibility in using interpersonal versus intrapersonal ER in response to daily stressors in romantic relationships. We hypothesized that higher attachment avoidance and anxiety are associated with (H1) higher reliance on either intrapersonal or interpersonal ER over the other, respectively; (H2) less variable use of interpersonal compared to intrapersonal ER over time; and (H3) less flexible use of interpersonal compared to intrapersonal ER depending on the availability of a romantic partner. Study 1 (N = 174; 133 females, Mage = 23.79, SDage = 7.63) used an online cross-sectional survey to measure average inter/intrapersonal ER, addressing H1. Study 2 (N = 124; 104 females, Mage = 22.45, SDage = 6.39), combined a baseline survey with experience sampling (7 days, 8 notifications/day), addressing H1, H2, and H3. Results showed that higher attachment avoidance was associated with lower interpersonal compared to intrapersonal ER. Higher attachment anxiety was associated with less variable use of interpersonal compared to intrapersonal ER and less flexible use of interpersonal ER depending on partner availability. These findings suggest distinct associations between attachment orientations and ER flexibility, explaining ER difficulties in individuals with high attachment insecurity.
Project description:Mating with another species is often maladaptive because it generally results in no or low-fitness offspring. When hybridization is sufficiently costly, individuals should avoid mating with heterospecifics even if it reduces their ability to mate with high-quality conspecifics that resemble heterospecifics. Here, we used spadefoot toads, Spea multiplicata, to evaluate whether females alter their preferences for conspecific male sexual signals (call rate) depending on heterospecific presence. When presented with conspecific signals against a background including both conspecific and heterospecific signals, females preferred male traits that were most dissimilar to heterospecifics-even though these signals are potentially associated with lower-quality mates. However, when these same females were presented with a background that included only conspecific signals, some females switched their preferences, choosing conspecific signals that were exaggerated and indicative of high-quality conspecific mates. Because only some females switched their preferences between these two chorus treatments, there was no population-level preference for exaggerated conspecific male signals in the absence of heterospecifics. These results show that hybridization risk can alter patterns of mate choice and, consequently, sexual selection on male signals. Moreover, they emphasize that the strength and expression of reproductive barriers between species (such as mate choice) can be context-dependent.
Project description:Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of the parasympathetic nervous system, has recently gained attention as a physiological component of regulatory processes, social connectedness, and health. Within the context of romantic relationships, studies have operationalized and conceptualized RSA in disparate ways, obscuring a clear pattern of findings. This systematic review synthesizes the rapidly developing literature and clarifies the role of RSA in romantic relationships. We evaluate support for three conceptual hypotheses: (1) resting baseline RSA is associated with better quality relationships; (2) phasic RSA is reflective of changes in threat and connection during couple interactions; and (3) physiological linkage in RSA between romantic partners relates to positive or negative relationship functioning depending on the nature of the linkage (e.g., in-phase vs. antiphase). We identified 26 empirical studies that tested associations between RSA and an index of romantic relationships (i.e., relationship satisfaction). Our findings show that higher RSA is not uniformly "good" for relationships. Higher resting baseline RSA was contemporaneously associated with better quality relationships, yet higher baseline RSA was also unexpectedly associated with relationship violence. Short-term decreases in RSA were found during relationship conflict, though the opposite-phasic increases in RSA during positive romantic partner interactions-was not found due to mixed empirical support. As expected, evidence for RSA linkage was found, though the connection between linkage and relationship functioning depends on the context in which it was measured. We discuss methodological limitations and directions for future research.
Project description:Interdependence, including emotional interdependence, is widely considered to be a cornerstone of close relationships. Through frequent interactions, romantic partners are thought to continuously exchange, influence, and respond to one another's emotions, leading their feelings to become closely aligned over time. Although prior research has shown that such emotional interdependence can arise in couples, no research to date has comprehensively investigated its occurrence, degree, consistency and correlates. Across 3 different studies, we examined whether and to what extent couples indeed show interpersonal emotional connections (compared to pseudocouples). Additionally, we investigated its consistency and moderating factors, by examining emotional interdependence across different types of emotions (negative vs. positive vs. emotional extremity), timescales (second-to-second vs. daily life), and situational contexts (supportive vs. conflictual), and by inspecting associations with indicators of relationship closeness (relationship longevity, cohabitation status, commitment, and closeness in terms of including the other in the self). The findings show limited evidence for emotional interdependence. The overall mean level of interdependence was significantly larger than that of randomly composed couples, but only a minority of the couples demonstrated emotional interdependence to a greater extent than these pseudocouples. Moreover, the degree to which couples exhibited emotional interdependence showed little consistency across timescales and contexts, and was not clearly associated with relationship closeness. We discuss potential implications for the field of interpersonal emotion dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Project description:Prior mate preference research has focused on the content of mate preferences. Yet in real life, people must select mates among potentials who vary along myriad dimensions. How do people incorporate information on many different mate preferences in order to choose which partner to pursue? Here, in Study 1, we compare seven candidate algorithms for integrating multiple mate preferences in a competitive agent-based model of human mate choice evolution. This model shows that a Euclidean algorithm is the most evolvable solution to the problem of selecting fitness-beneficial mates. Next, across three studies of actual couples (Study 2: n = 214; Study 3: n = 259; Study 4: n = 294) we apply the Euclidean algorithm toward predicting mate preference fulfillment overall and preference fulfillment as a function of mate value. Consistent with the hypothesis that mate preferences are integrated according to a Euclidean algorithm, we find that actual mates lie close in multidimensional preference space to the preferences of their partners. Moreover, this Euclidean preference fulfillment is greater for people who are higher in mate value, highlighting theoretically-predictable individual differences in who gets what they want. These new Euclidean tools have important implications for understanding real-world dynamics of mate selection.
Project description:Male songbirds use song to advertise their attractiveness as potential mates, and the properties of those songs have a powerful influence on female mate preferences. One idea is that males may exert themselves maximally in each song performance, consistent with female evaluation and formation of mate preferences being the primary contributors to mate choice. Alternatively, males may modulate their song behaviour to different degrees in the presence of different females, consistent with both male and female mate preferences contributing to mutual mate choice. Here we consider whether male Bengalese finches, Lonchura striata domestica, express mate preferences at the level of individual females, and whether those preferences are manifest as changes in song behaviour that are sufficient to influence female mate choice. We tested this idea by recording songs performed by individual unmated males during a series of 1 h interactions with each of many unmated females. Across recording sessions, males systematically varied both the quantity and the quality of the songs that they performed to different females. Males also varied their song properties throughout the course of each interaction, and behavioural tests using female birds revealed that songs performed at the onset of each interaction were significantly more attractive than songs performed by the same male later during the same interaction. This demonstration of context-specific variation in the properties of male reproductive signals and a role for that variation in shaping female mate preference reveals that male mate preferences play an important role in mutual mate choice in this species. Because these birds thrive so well in the laboratory and are so amenable to observation and experimentation across generations, these results yield a new model system that may prove especially advantageous in disentangling the role of male and female mate preferences in shaping mutual mate choice and its long-term benefits or consequences.