Better halves
One of a kind: The strong and complex preference for unique treatment from romantic partners
Lalin Anik & Ryan Hauser
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Individuals prefer romantic partners who universally treat others well (i.e., partners who exhibit trait-level generosity) and also prefer partners who treat them uniquely. Previous work supports both preferences, yet the literature has largely ignored what happens when these preferences conflict. In the present work, we compare these two preferences in romantic relationships by pitting people's preference for trait-level generosity from their partner against their preference for unique treatment from their partner. Across 10 studies, we observe a strong, multifaceted, and somewhat selfish preference for unique treatment that often overwhelms the preference for trait-level generosity. People generally want their partner to offer them relatively better treatment than they offer to others (e.g., their partner orders a larger bouquet for their birthday than for the neighbor's birthday). However, in specific domains and situations, individuals are satisfied with receiving treatment from their partner that is the same as — or slightly worse than — the treatment their partner offers to others, so long as the treatment is unique (e.g., their partner sends everyone a text containing a special inside joke). Further, using a conjoint-analysis approach novel to studying partner selection, we find that partners who offer unique treatment are highly desired and that people are willing to make significant sacrifices in partner attractiveness to receive unique treatment. This preference also impacts how people evaluate and interact with their romantic partners and how satisfied they feel with their relationships.
Why Bother? The Effect of Declining Marriage Prospects on Employment of Young Men
Ariel Binder
University of Michigan Working Paper, October 2019
Abstract:
Why have so many young men withdrawn from the U.S. labor force since 1965? This paper presents a model in which men invest time in employment to enhance their value as marriage partners. When the marriage market return on this investment declines, young men’s employment declines as well, in preparation for a less favorable marriage market. Taking this prediction to data, I show that fewer young men sought employment after 2 interventions that reduced the value of gender-role-specialization within marriage: i) the adoption of unilateral divorce legislation, and ii) demand-driven improvements in women’s employment opportunities. I then show, using a structural estimation, that half of the employment effect of a labor market shock to men’s wages is determined by endogenous adjustment of the marriage market to the shock. These findings establish the changing marriage market as an important driver of decline in young men’s labor market involvement.
Ambivalent attraction: Beauty determines whether men romantically desire or dismiss high status women
Alexandra Fisher & Danu Anthony Stinson
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
We propose that physical attractiveness determines whether heterosexual men desire or dismiss romance with high-status women. We tested this ambivalent attraction hypothesis in three increasingly realistic experiments – one involving a hypothetical social interaction (N = 214) and two involving potential and actual interactions with confederates (Ns = 332 and 181). In each experiment, heterosexual men encountered a moderately-attractive or highly-attractive woman who aspired to (or held) a low-status or high-status job. Then they rated their attraction to the woman (Experiments 1 to 3) and were given the opportunity to initiate additional social contact with the woman (Experiments 2 and 3). As predicted, a meta-analysis across all three experiments revealed that higher (vs. lower) status decreased men's attraction to moderately-attractive women (d = -0.20), whereas higher (vs. lower) status increased men's attraction to highly-attractive women (d = 0.47). Women did not exhibit this pattern of reactions to either women or men. These results demonstrate the importance of ecological validity and interactive effects in attraction research.
Spousal Relative Income and Male Psychological Distress
Joanna Syrda
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using Panel Study of Income Dynamics 2001-2015 dataset (6,035 households, 19,688 observations), this study takes a new approach to investigating the relationship between wife’s relative income and husband’s psychological distress, and finds it to be significantly U-shaped. Controlling for total household income, predicted male psychological distress reaches a minimum at a point where wives make 40% of total household income and proceeds to increase, to reach highest level when men are entirely economically dependent on their wives. These results reflect the stress associated with being the sole breadwinner, and more significantly, with gender norm deviance due to husbands being outearned by their wives. Interestingly, the relationship between wife’s relative income and husband’s psychological distress is not found among couples where wives outearned husbands at the beginning of their marriage pointing to importance of marital selection. Finally, patterns reported by wives are not as pronouncedly U-shaped as those reported by husbands.
The Shale Boom and Family Structure: Oil and Gas Employment Growth Relationship to Marriage, Divorce, and Cohabitation
Michael Shepard, Michael Betz & Anastasia Snyder
Rural Sociology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Shale oil and gas extraction technology has caused a large shift in the United States' energy landscape over the last decade. This had a wide range of impacts on rural communities mostly in which oil and gas extraction occurs. While many studies have focused on the economic and environmental impact of shale development, researchers have only begun to study the social changes brought on by the shale resource extraction. We examine the influence of shale oil and gas employment as a share of overall county employment on county marriage, divorce, and cohabitation rates. We find evidence that oil and gas employment growth is associated with decreased marriage rates and increased divorce rates from 2009 to 2014. We test several channels through which oil and gas development may influence marriage behaviors and find that changes in female labor force participation, county sex ratios, and median household incomes are associated with oil and gas development. We also test for differences across the rural/urban continuum and find that our results are largely driven by nonmetro counties.
Perfectionism and Relationship Status Influence Health Evaluations of Faces with Limbal Rings
Donald Sacco, Mitch Brown & Mary Medlin
Evolutionary Psychological Science, December 2019, Pages 447–453
Abstract:
Research consistently demonstrates that limbal rings are a visual cue to health, given their peak vibrancy is observed in healthy individuals. Such perceptual acuity toward limbal rings is especially apparent among women evaluating male faces. The current research was designed as a replication and extension of previous findings demonstrating how women perceive limbal rings. Additionally, we sought to determine if this preference was moderated by relationship status and related to individual differences in perfectionistic tendencies, consistent with past research demonstrating moderation of good genes preferences by personality and relationship status. Women evaluated the perceived health of faces with and without limbal rings before responding to measures assessing perfectionistic tendencies. We replicated previous findings indicating that limbal rings are indeed a health cue, particularly in male faces. Furthermore, we extended previous findings by demonstrating that women higher in other-oriented perfectionism, a dimension of perfectionism associated with exceedingly high criteria for others’ abilities, perceive faces with limbal rings as particularly healthy. Importantly, this perceptual acuity was only apparent among single women. We frame results in terms of how perfectionism facilitates recognition of good gene cues.