Love as a Commitment Device : Evidence from a Cross-Cultural Study across 90 Countries.
Journal: Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)
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Affiliated Institutions:
IDN Being Human Lab - Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland. martakowal@gmail.com.
School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Faculty of Educational Sciences, Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland.
IDN Being Human Lab - Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, North Macedonia.
Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA.
Humanities Department, Icam School of Engineering, Toulouse Campus, Toulouse, France.
Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University, Moskva, Moscow, Russia.
Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Department of Environmental Ecology, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Department of Psychology, Yaşar University, Izmir, Turkey.
Department of Anthropology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Department of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA.
Ecole Normale Supérieure Assia DJEBAR de Constantine, Constantine, Algérie.
Department of Psychology, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey.
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Department of Anthropology, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey.
PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
School of Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia.
Department of Psychology, Izmir University of Economics, İzmir, Turkey.
Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, España.
Department of Psychiatry Ibn Omrane, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.
Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland.
Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
Department of Education, Universidad Internacional de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
Department of Psychology and Education Sciences and Speech Therapy, Mohamed Lamine Debaghine, Setif University, Setif, Algeria.
Department of Sosiologie, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco.
School of Psychological Sciences, National Autonomous University of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Department of Psychology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Department of Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador- Ambato, Ambato, Ecuador.
Department of Psychology, Universidad del Norte, Puerto Colombia, Colombia.
Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Department of Psychology, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-alike, Nigeria.
Faculty of Education and Liberal Arts, INTI International University, Nilai, Malaysia.
Department of Psychology, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines.
Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy.
School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
Department of Psychology, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Faculty of Social Sciences, imec-mict-Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Interdisciplinary Sports Science Laboratory, Institute of Sports Professions, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco.
WSB Merito University in Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland.
Department of Psychology, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia.
Department of Health and Physical Education, Thaksin University, Songkhla, Thailand.
School of Education, International University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
Psychology Department, West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania.
Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russia.
Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.
Department of Child & Family Studies, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Abstract summary
Given the ubiquitous nature of love, numerous theories have been proposed to explain its existence. One such theory refers to love as a commitment device, suggesting that romantic love evolved to foster commitment between partners and enhance their reproductive success. In the present study, we investigated this hypothesis using a large-scale sample of 86,310 individual responses collected across 90 countries. If romantic love is universally perceived as a force that fosters commitment between long-term partners, we expected that individuals likely to suffer greater losses from the termination of their relationships-including people of lower socioeconomic status, those with many children, and women-would place a higher value on romantic love compared to people with higher status, those with fewer children, and men. These predictions were supported. Additionally, we observed that individuals from countries with a higher (vs. lower) Human Development Index placed a greater level of importance on romantic love, suggesting that modernization might influence how romantic love is evaluated. On average, participants worldwide were unwilling to commit to a long-term romantic relationship without love, highlighting romantic love's universal importance.
Authors & Co-authors:
Kowal Marta M
Bode Adam A
Koszałkowska Karolina K
Roberts S Craig SC
Gjoneska Biljana B
Frederick David D
Studzinska Anna A
Dubrov Dmitrii D
Grigoryev Dmitry D
Aavik Toivo T
Prokop Pavol P
Grano Caterina C
Çetinkaya Hakan H
Duyar Derya Atamtürk DA
Baiocco Roberto R
Batres Carlota C
Belkacem Yakhlef Y
Boğa Merve M
Burduli Nana N
Can Ali R AR
Chegeni Razieh R
Chopik William J WJ
Don Yahya Y
Dural Seda S
Duyar Izzet I
Etchezahar Edgardo E
Fekih-Romdhane Feten F
Frackowiak Tomasz T
García Felipe E FE
Yepes Talia Gomez TG
Guemaz Farida F
Hamdaoui Brahim B BB
Koyuncu Mehmet M
Landa-Blanco Miguel M
Lins Samuel S
Marot Tiago T
Mayorga-Lascano Marlon M
Mebarak Moises M
Morelli Mara M
Ndukaihe Izuchukwu L G ILG
Fauzee Mohd Sofian Omar MSO
Pacquing Ma Criselda Tengco MCT
Parise Miriam M
Pazhoohi Farid F
Pirtskhalava Ekaterine E
Ponnet Koen K
Reips Ulf-Dietrich UD
Reyes Marc Eric Santos MES
Şahin Ayşegül A
Sahli Fatima Zahra FZ
Senyk Oksana O
Spasovski Ognen O
Tulyakul Singha S
Ungaretti Joaquín J
Vintila Mona M
Volkodav Tatiana T
Wlodarczyk Anna A
Yoo Gyesook G
Gelbart Benjamin B
Sorokowski Piotr P
Study Outcome
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