Miguel Landa-Blanco - Love as a Commitment Device

Journal article

M. Kowal, Adam Bode, Karolina Koszałkowska, S. Roberts, B. Gjoneska, David A. Frederick, A. Studzinska, D. Dubrov, Dmitry Grigoryev, T. Aavik, P. Prokop, C. Grano, Hakan Çetinkaya, Derya Atamtürk Duyar, R. Baiocco, C. Batres, Yakhlef Belkacem, Merve Boğa, Nana Burduli, Ali R Can, Razieh Chegeni, W. Chopik, Yahya Don, S. Dural, I. Duyar, Edgardo Etchezahar, F. Fekih-Romdhane, Tomasz Frąckowiak, Felipe E García, Talía Gómez Yepes, Farida Guemaz, Brahim Hamdaoui, Mehmet Koyuncu, Miguel Landa-Blanco, Samuel Lins, T. Marot, Marlon Mayorga-Lascano, Moisés Mebarak, Mara Morelli, I. Ndukaihe, M. Fauzee, M. C. T. Pacquing, M. Parise, Farid Pazhoohi, Ekaterine Pirtskhalava, Koen Ponnet, Ulf-Dietrich Reips, M. E. S. Reyes, Ayşegül Şahin, Fatima Zahra Sahli, O. Senyk, O. Spasovski, Singha Tulyakul, J. Ungaretti, M. Vintilă, Tatiana Volkodav, Anna Włodarczyk, Gyesook Yoo, B. Gelbart, P. Sorokowski
Human Nature, 2024

Semantic Scholar DOI PubMedCentral PubMed

Cite

APA Click to copy
Kowal, M., Bode, A., Koszałkowska, K., Roberts, S., Gjoneska, B., Frederick, D. A., … Sorokowski, P. (2024). Love as a Commitment Device. Human Nature.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Kowal, M., Adam Bode, Karolina Koszałkowska, S. Roberts, B. Gjoneska, David A. Frederick, A. Studzinska, et al. “Love as a Commitment Device.” Human Nature (2024).

MLA Click to copy
Kowal, M., et al. “Love as a Commitment Device.” Human Nature, 2024.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{m2024a,
  title = {Love as a Commitment Device},
  year = {2024},
  journal = {Human Nature},
  author = {Kowal, M. and Bode, Adam and Koszałkowska, Karolina and Roberts, S. and Gjoneska, B. and Frederick, David A. and Studzinska, A. and Dubrov, D. and Grigoryev, Dmitry and Aavik, T. and Prokop, P. and Grano, C. and Çetinkaya, Hakan and Duyar, Derya Atamtürk and Baiocco, R. and Batres, C. and Belkacem, Yakhlef and Boğa, Merve and Burduli, Nana and Can, Ali R and Chegeni, Razieh and Chopik, W. and Don, Yahya and Dural, S. and Duyar, I. and Etchezahar, Edgardo and Fekih-Romdhane, F. and Frąckowiak, Tomasz and García, Felipe E and Yepes, Talía Gómez and Guemaz, Farida and Hamdaoui, Brahim and Koyuncu, Mehmet and Landa-Blanco, Miguel and Lins, Samuel and Marot, T. and Mayorga-Lascano, Marlon and Mebarak, Moisés and Morelli, Mara and Ndukaihe, I. and Fauzee, M. and Pacquing, M. C. T. and Parise, M. and Pazhoohi, Farid and Pirtskhalava, Ekaterine and Ponnet, Koen and Reips, Ulf-Dietrich and Reyes, M. E. S. and Şahin, Ayşegül and Sahli, Fatima Zahra and Senyk, O. and Spasovski, O. and Tulyakul, Singha and Ungaretti, J. and Vintilă, M. and Volkodav, Tatiana and Włodarczyk, Anna and Yoo, Gyesook and Gelbart, B. and Sorokowski, P.}
}

Abstract

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.