Automatic inattention to attractive alternatives: the evolved psychology of relationship maintenance
Received 20 December 2007; accepted 14 April 2008. published online 01 July 2008.
Abstract
There can be important reproductive benefits to maintaining a long-term romantic relationship. As a result, humans may possess evolved psychological mechanisms designed to help them maintain their commitment to a long-term mate, particularly when faced with attractive alternative relationship partners. The current study identifies a relationship maintenance process that involves being inattentive to alternative relationship partners. Experimentally eliciting thoughts and feelings of romantic love—an emotion thought to have evolved for the purpose of relationship maintenance—reduced attention to alternative partners at an early, automatic stage of visual perception. Consistent with evolutionary models of mate selection, this reduction in attention was observed only for opposite sex targets displaying high levels of physical attractiveness. This research illustrates the utility of integrating evolutionary models of mating with theory and method from cognitive science.
Because this paper may positively impact the financial success of eHarmony.com the reader should know the third author has a financial interest in eHarmony.com. The UCLA psychology department has not endorsed eHarmony's commercial selection/matching procedures.