Love as a Commitment Device : Evidence from a Cross-Cultural Study across 90 Countries

Marta Kowal; Adam Bode; Karolina Koszałkowska; S. Craig Roberts; Biljana Gjoneska; David Frederick; Anna Studzinska; Dmitrii Dubrov; Dmitry Grigoryev; Toivo Aavik; Pavol Prokop; Caterina Grano; Hakan Çetinkaya; Derya Atamtürk Duyar; Roberto Baiocco; Carlota Batres; Yakhlef Belkacem; Merve Boğa; Nana Burduli; Ali R. Can; Razieh Chegeni; William J. Chopik; Yahya Don; Seda Dural; Izzet Duyar; Edgardo Etchezahar; Feten Fekih-Romdhane; Tomasz Frackowiak; Felipe E. García; Talia Gomez Yepes; Farida Guemaz; Brahim B. Hamdaoui; Mehmet Koyuncu; Miguel Landa-Blanco; Samuel Lins; Tiago Marot; Marlon Mayorga-Lascano; Moises Mebarak; Mara Morelli; Izuchukwu L.G. Ndukaihe; Mohd Sofian Omar Fauzee; Ma Criselda Tengco Pacquing; Miriam Parise; Farid Pazhoohi; Ekaterine Pirtskhalava; Koen Ponnet; Ulf Dietrich Reips; Marc Eric Santos Reyes; Ayşegül Şahin; Fatima Zahra Sahli; Oksana Senyk; Ognen Spasovski; Singha Tulyakul; Joaquín Ungaretti; Mona Vintila; Tatiana Volkodav; Anna Wlodarczyk; Gyesook Yoo; Benjamin Gelbart; Piotr Sorokowski

doi:10.1007/s12110-024-09482-6

Love as a Commitment Device : Evidence from a Cross-Cultural Study across 90 Countries

Marta Kowal^*
, Adam Bode
, Karolina Koszałkowska
, S. Craig Roberts
, Biljana Gjoneska
, David Frederick
, Anna Studzinska
, Dmitrii Dubrov
, Dmitry Grigoryev
, Toivo Aavik
, Pavol Prokop
, Caterina Grano
, Hakan Çetinkaya
, Derya Atamtürk Duyar
, Roberto Baiocco
, Carlota Batres
, Yakhlef Belkacem
, Merve Boğa
, Nana Burduli
, Ali R. Can

Razieh Chegeni, William J. Chopik, Yahya Don, Seda Dural, Izzet Duyar, Edgardo Etchezahar, Feten Fekih-Romdhane, Tomasz Frackowiak, Felipe E. García, Talia Gomez Yepes, Farida Guemaz, Brahim B. Hamdaoui, Mehmet Koyuncu, Miguel Landa-Blanco, Samuel Lins, Tiago Marot, Marlon Mayorga-Lascano, Moises Mebarak, Mara Morelli, Izuchukwu L.G. Ndukaihe, Mohd Sofian Omar Fauzee, Ma Criselda Tengco Pacquing, Miriam Parise, Farid Pazhoohi, Ekaterine Pirtskhalava, Koen Ponnet, Ulf Dietrich Reips, Marc Eric Santos Reyes, Ayşegül Şahin, Fatima Zahra Sahli, Oksana Senyk, Ognen Spasovski, Singha Tulyakul, Joaquín Ungaretti, Mona Vintila, Tatiana Volkodav, Anna Wlodarczyk, Gyesook Yoo, Benjamin Gelbart, Piotr Sorokowski

^*Corresponding author for this work

PUCE Ambato

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Scopus citations

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	430-450
Number of pages	21
Journal	Human Nature
Volume	35
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-024-09482-6
State	Published - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

This study was made possible by the funds from the National Science Centre (2019/33/N/HS6/00054). Marta Kowal was supported by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) START scholarship. Dmitrii Dubrov and Dmitry Grigoryev were supported within the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University). Toivo Aavik was supported by the Estonian Research Council grant (PRG2190).

Funders	Funder number
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej
Narodowe Centrum Nauki	2019/33/N/HS6/00054
Eesti Teadusagentuur	PRG2190

Keywords

Emotion
Evolutionary theory
Importance of love
Kephart
Parental Investment theory
Romantic love

Access to Document

10.1007/s12110-024-09482-6

Cite this

Kowal, M., Bode, A., Koszałkowska, K., Roberts, S. C., Gjoneska, B., Frederick, D., Studzinska, A., Dubrov, D., Grigoryev, D., Aavik, T., Prokop, P., Grano, C., Çetinkaya, H., Duyar, D. A., Baiocco, R., Batres, C., Belkacem, Y., Boğa, M., Burduli, N., ... Sorokowski, P. (2024). Love as a Commitment Device : Evidence from a Cross-Cultural Study across 90 Countries. Human Nature, 35(4), 430-450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-024-09482-6

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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{\textquoteright}s universal importance.",

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author = "Marta Kowal and Adam Bode and Karolina Kosza{\l}kowska and Roberts, \{S. Craig\} and Biljana Gjoneska and David Frederick and Anna Studzinska and Dmitrii Dubrov and Dmitry Grigoryev and Toivo Aavik and Pavol Prokop and Caterina Grano and Hakan {\c C}etinkaya and Duyar, \{Derya Atamt{\"u}rk\} and Roberto Baiocco and Carlota Batres and Yakhlef Belkacem and Merve Boğa and Nana Burduli and Can, \{Ali R.\} and Razieh Chegeni and Chopik, \{William J.\} and Yahya Don and Seda Dural and Izzet Duyar and Edgardo Etchezahar and Feten Fekih-Romdhane and Tomasz Frackowiak and Garc{\'i}a, \{Felipe E.\} and Yepes, \{Talia Gomez\} and Farida Guemaz and Hamdaoui, \{Brahim B.\} and Mehmet Koyuncu and Miguel Landa-Blanco and Samuel Lins and Tiago Marot and Marlon Mayorga-Lascano and Moises Mebarak and Mara Morelli and Ndukaihe, \{Izuchukwu L.G.\} and Fauzee, \{Mohd Sofian Omar\} and Pacquing, \{Ma Criselda Tengco\} and Miriam Parise and Farid Pazhoohi and Ekaterine Pirtskhalava and Koen Ponnet and Reips, \{Ulf Dietrich\} and Reyes, \{Marc Eric Santos\} and Ay{\c s}eg{\"u}l {\c S}ahin and Sahli, \{Fatima Zahra\} and Oksana Senyk and Ognen Spasovski and Singha Tulyakul and Joaqu{\'i}n Ungaretti and Mona Vintila and Tatiana Volkodav and Anna Wlodarczyk and Gyesook Yoo and Benjamin Gelbart and Piotr Sorokowski",

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Kowal, M, Bode, A, Koszałkowska, K, Roberts, SC, Gjoneska, B, Frederick, D, Studzinska, A, Dubrov, D, Grigoryev, D, Aavik, T, Prokop, P, Grano, C, Çetinkaya, H, Duyar, DA, Baiocco, R, Batres, C, Belkacem, Y, Boğa, M, Burduli, N, Can, AR, Chegeni, R, Chopik, WJ, Don, Y, Dural, S, Duyar, I, Etchezahar, E, Fekih-Romdhane, F, Frackowiak, T, García, FE, Yepes, TG, Guemaz, F, Hamdaoui, BB, Koyuncu, M, Landa-Blanco, M, Lins, S, Marot, T, Mayorga-Lascano, M, Mebarak, M, Morelli, M, Ndukaihe, ILG, Fauzee, MSO, Pacquing, MCT, Parise, M, Pazhoohi, F, Pirtskhalava, E, Ponnet, K, Reips, UD, Reyes, MES, Şahin, A, Sahli, FZ, Senyk, O, Spasovski, O, Tulyakul, S, Ungaretti, J, Vintila, M, Volkodav, T, Wlodarczyk, A, Yoo, G, Gelbart, B & Sorokowski, P 2024, 'Love as a Commitment Device : Evidence from a Cross-Cultural Study across 90 Countries', Human Nature, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 430-450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-024-09482-6

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AU - Kowal, Marta

AU - Bode, Adam

AU - Koszałkowska, Karolina

AU - Roberts, S. Craig

AU - Gjoneska, Biljana

AU - Frederick, David

AU - Studzinska, Anna

AU - Dubrov, Dmitrii

AU - Grigoryev, Dmitry

AU - Aavik, Toivo

AU - Prokop, Pavol

AU - Grano, Caterina

AU - Çetinkaya, Hakan

AU - Duyar, Derya Atamtürk

AU - Baiocco, Roberto

AU - Batres, Carlota

AU - Belkacem, Yakhlef

AU - Boğa, Merve

AU - Burduli, Nana

AU - Can, Ali R.

AU - Chegeni, Razieh

AU - Chopik, William J.

AU - Don, Yahya

AU - Dural, Seda

AU - Duyar, Izzet

AU - Etchezahar, Edgardo

AU - Fekih-Romdhane, Feten

AU - Frackowiak, Tomasz

AU - García, Felipe E.

AU - Yepes, Talia Gomez

AU - Guemaz, Farida

AU - Hamdaoui, Brahim B.

AU - Koyuncu, Mehmet

AU - Landa-Blanco, Miguel

AU - Lins, Samuel

AU - Marot, Tiago

AU - Mayorga-Lascano, Marlon

AU - Mebarak, Moises

AU - Morelli, Mara

AU - Ndukaihe, Izuchukwu L.G.

AU - Fauzee, Mohd Sofian Omar

AU - Pacquing, Ma Criselda Tengco

AU - Parise, Miriam

AU - Pazhoohi, Farid

AU - Pirtskhalava, Ekaterine

AU - Ponnet, Koen

AU - Reips, Ulf Dietrich

AU - Reyes, Marc Eric Santos

AU - Şahin, Ayşegül

AU - Sahli, Fatima Zahra

AU - Senyk, Oksana

AU - Spasovski, Ognen

AU - Tulyakul, Singha

AU - Ungaretti, Joaquín

AU - Vintila, Mona

AU - Volkodav, Tatiana

AU - Wlodarczyk, Anna

AU - Yoo, Gyesook

AU - Gelbart, Benjamin

AU - Sorokowski, Piotr

PY - 2024/12

Y1 - 2024/12

N2 - 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.

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KW - Emotion

KW - Evolutionary theory

KW - Importance of love

KW - Kephart

KW - Parental Investment theory

KW - Romantic love

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