The function of love: A signaling-to-alternatives account of the commitment device hypothesis

Summary

This large cross-cultural collaboration tests competing evolutionary accounts of the function of romantic love. The classic view treats love as a commitment device that suppresses interest in alternative partners and signals this shift to one's current partner. The authors contrast this with a novel signaling-to-alternatives account, in which love instead works by discouraging rivals from pursuing oneself. Across studies drawing on data from many countries, they find that a partner's quality relative to available alternatives positively predicts feelings of love, and that love does not buffer relationship satisfaction against the pull of desirable alternatives, contradicting the commitment-device prediction. Overall the evidence more consistently supports the signaling-to-alternatives interpretation, reframing love's adaptive role in mate retention.