TY - JOUR
T1 - Family Matters
T2 - Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation
AU - Ko, Ahra
AU - Pick, Cari M.
AU - Kwon, Jung Yul
AU - Barlev, Michael
AU - Krems, Jaimie Arona
AU - Varnum, Michael E.W.
AU - Neel, Rebecca
AU - Peysha, Mark
AU - Boonyasiriwat, Watcharaporn
AU - Brandstätter, Eduard
AU - Crispim, Ana Carla
AU - Cruz, Julio Eduardo
AU - David, Daniel
AU - David, Oana A.
AU - de Felipe, Renata Pereira
AU - Fetvadjiev, Velichko H.
AU - Fischer, Ronald
AU - Galdi, Silvia
AU - Galindo, Oscar
AU - Golovina, Galina
AU - Gomez-Jacinto, Luis
AU - Graf, Sylvie
AU - Grossmann, Igor
AU - Gul, Pelin
AU - Hamamura, Takeshi
AU - Han, Shihui
AU - Hitokoto, Hidefumi
AU - Hřebíčková, Martina
AU - Johnson, Jennifer Lee
AU - Karl, Johannes A.
AU - Malanchuk, Oksana
AU - Murata, Asuka
AU - Na, Jinkyung
AU - O, Jiaqing
AU - Rizwan, Muhammed
AU - Roth, Eric
AU - Salgado, Sergio Antonio Salgado
AU - Samoylenko, Elena
AU - Savchenko, Tatyana
AU - Sevincer, A. Timur
AU - Stanciu, Adrian
AU - Suh, Eunkook M.
AU - Talhelm, Thomas
AU - Uskul, Ayse K.
AU - Uz, Irem
AU - Zambrano, Danilo
AU - Kenrick, Douglas T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people’s highest social priorities.
AB - What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people’s highest social priorities.
KW - evolutionary psychology
KW - family
KW - goals
KW - interpersonal relations
KW - motivation
KW - reward
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073835647&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85073835647&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1745691619872986
DO - 10.1177/1745691619872986
M3 - Article
C2 - 31791196
SN - 1745-6916
VL - 15
SP - 173
EP - 201
JO - Perspectives on Psychological Science
JF - Perspectives on Psychological Science
IS - 1
ER -