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

Kowal M 1 , Bode A 2 , Koszałkowska K 3 , Roberts SC 4 , Gjoneska B 5 , Frederick D 6 Show all authors , Studzinska A 7 , Dubrov D 8 , Grigoryev D 8 , Aavik T 9 , Prokop P 10 , Grano C 11 , Çetinkaya H 12 , Duyar DA 13 , Baiocco R 14 , Batres C 15 , Belkacem Y 16 , Boğa M 17 , Burduli N 18 , Can AR 19 , Chegeni R 20 , Chopik WJ 21 , Don Y 22 , Dural S 23 , Duyar I 13 , Etchezahar E 24 , Fekih-Romdhane F 25 , Frackowiak T 26 , García FE 27 , Yepes TG 28 , Guemaz F 29 , Hamdaoui BB 30 , Koyuncu M 17 , Landa-Blanco M 31 , Lins S 32 , Marot T 33 , Mayorga-Lascano M 34 , Mebarak M 35 , Morelli M 36 , Ndukaihe ILG 37 , Fauzee MSO 38 , Pacquing MCT 39 , Parise M 40 , Pazhoohi F 41 , Pirtskhalava E 42 , Ponnet K 43 , Reips UD 44 , Reyes MES 39 , Şahin A 13 , Sahli FZ 45 , Senyk O 46 , Spasovski O 47 , Tulyakul S 48 , Ungaretti J 49 , Vintila M 50 , Volkodav T 51 , Wlodarczyk A 52 , Yoo G 53 , Gelbart B 54 , Sorokowski P 26

Affiliations 

  • 1 IDN Being Human Lab - Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland. marta7kowal@gmail.com
  • 2 School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  • 3 Faculty of Educational Sciences, Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland
  • 4 IDN Being Human Lab - Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
  • 5 Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, North Macedonia
  • 6 Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
  • 7 Humanities Department, Icam School of Engineering, Toulouse Campus, Toulouse, France
  • 8 Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University, Moskva, Moscow, Russia
  • 9 Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
  • 10 Department of Environmental Ecology, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 11 Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • 12 Department of Psychology, Yaşar University, Izmir, Turkey
  • 13 Department of Anthropology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 14 Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • 15 Department of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA
  • 16 Ecole Normale Supérieure Assia DJEBAR de Constantine, Constantine, Algérie
  • 17 Department of Psychology, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey
  • 18 Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 19 Department of Anthropology, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey
  • 20 PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  • 21 Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
  • 22 School of Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia
  • 23 Department of Psychology, Izmir University of Economics, İzmir, Turkey
  • 24 Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, España
  • 25 Department of Psychiatry Ibn Omrane, Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia
  • 26 Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
  • 27 Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
  • 28 Department of Education, Universidad Internacional de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
  • 29 Department of Psychology and Education Sciences and Speech Therapy, Mohamed Lamine Debaghine, Setif2 University, Setif, Algeria
  • 30 Department of Sosiologie, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco
  • 31 School of Psychological Sciences, National Autonomous University of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
  • 32 Department of Psychology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  • 33 Department of Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
  • 34 Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador- Ambato, Ambato, Ecuador
  • 35 Department of Psychology, Universidad del Norte, Puerto Colombia, Colombia
  • 36 Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • 37 Department of Psychology, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-alike, Nigeria
  • 38 Faculty of Education and Liberal Arts, INTI International University, Nilai, Malaysia
  • 39 Department of Psychology, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines
  • 40 Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Italy
  • 41 School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
  • 42 Department of Psychology, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 43 Faculty of Social Sciences, imec-mict-Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  • 44 Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
  • 45 Interdisciplinary Sports Science Laboratory, Institute of Sports Professions, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco
  • 46 WSB Merito University in Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland
  • 47 Department of Psychology, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia
  • 48 Department of Health and Physical Education, Thaksin University, Songkhla, Thailand
  • 49 School of Education, International University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
  • 50 Psychology Department, West University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania
  • 51 Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russia
  • 52 Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
  • 53 Department of Child & Family Studies, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 54 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Hum Nat, 2024 Dec;35(4):430-450.
PMID: 39725786 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-024-09482-6

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.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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