TY - JOUR
T1 - Cooperative courtship
T2 - Helping friends raise and raze relationship barriers
AU - Ackerman, Joshua M.
AU - Kenrick, Douglas
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - Do people help each other form romantic relationships? Research on the role of the social environment in relationship formation has traditionally focused on competition, but this article investigates novel patterns of cooperation within courtship interactions. Drawing on a functional/evolutionary perspective, women are predicted to cooperate primarily in building romantic thresholds and barriers; men are predicted to cooperate primarily in achieving romantic access. In support of these predictions, four studies reveal that people consistently perceive cooperation, report cooperative behavior, and make cooperative decisions in romantic situations. People also provide the opposite pattern of help to opposite-sex friends from that provided to same-sex friends, suggesting that assistance is flexibly tuned to differences in the romantic selectivity of recipients. Cooperative courtship is revealed to be a commonly used set of mating strategies by which people functionally tailor aid to promote both their own and their friends' romantic relationship interests.
AB - Do people help each other form romantic relationships? Research on the role of the social environment in relationship formation has traditionally focused on competition, but this article investigates novel patterns of cooperation within courtship interactions. Drawing on a functional/evolutionary perspective, women are predicted to cooperate primarily in building romantic thresholds and barriers; men are predicted to cooperate primarily in achieving romantic access. In support of these predictions, four studies reveal that people consistently perceive cooperation, report cooperative behavior, and make cooperative decisions in romantic situations. People also provide the opposite pattern of help to opposite-sex friends from that provided to same-sex friends, suggesting that assistance is flexibly tuned to differences in the romantic selectivity of recipients. Cooperative courtship is revealed to be a commonly used set of mating strategies by which people functionally tailor aid to promote both their own and their friends' romantic relationship interests.
KW - Cooperation
KW - Courtship
KW - Evolutionary psychology
KW - Helping/prosocial behavior
KW - Romantic relationships
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U2 - 10.1177/0146167209335640
DO - 10.1177/0146167209335640
M3 - Article
C2 - 19458093
AN - SCOPUS:70349221699
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 35
SP - 1285
EP - 1300
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
IS - 10
ER -