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

Marta Kowal¹, Adam Bode², Karolina Koszałkowska³

¹IDN Being Human Lab - Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland. marta7kowal@gmail.com.

Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)

|December 26, 2024

Summary

Romantic love acts as a universal commitment device, crucial for long-term relationships. This study found that individuals and societies valuing love highly often face greater relationship termination risks, underscoring its global importance.

Keywords:

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

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Psychology
Sociology
Cross-Cultural Psychology

Background:

Love is a ubiquitous human emotion with various proposed evolutionary functions.
One theory posits romantic love evolved as a commitment device to enhance reproductive success.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the hypothesis that romantic love functions as a commitment device.
To examine the cross-cultural universality and socioeconomic correlates of valuing romantic love.

Main Methods:

Utilized a large-scale dataset of 86,310 individual responses from 90 countries.
Analyzed the relationship between socioeconomic factors, gender, parental status, Human Development Index (HDI), and the importance placed on romantic love.

Main Results:

Individuals with higher potential losses from relationship termination (lower socioeconomic status, more children, women) valued romantic love more.
Higher national Human Development Index (HDI) correlated with greater importance placed on romantic love.
A significant majority worldwide would not commit to a long-term relationship without love.

Conclusions:

Romantic love appears to function as a universal commitment device, particularly for those with more to lose.
Societal modernization may influence the perceived importance of romantic love.
Love is a fundamental prerequisite for long-term relationship commitment globally.