Promoting to Partner
Artificial connections: Romantic relationship engagement with artificial intelligence in the United States
Brian Willoughby et al.
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, forthcoming
Abstract:
Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have begun to influence almost all aspects of life, including romantic relationships. Despite many companies and other entities now utilizing AI technology to produce products and media that may influence romantic relationship engagement and behavior, few studies to date have attempted to document or describe the ways that individuals engage with multiple AI technologies for romantic or sexual purposes in large national samples. Using a large quota national sample taken from the United States of 2,969 adults, in this exploratory study we sought to examine engagement with AI technologies, specifically the use of image generation of men and women on social media, chat technologies meant to simulate romantic or sexual partners, and AI generated pornography. Results suggested that engagement with AI technologies is relatively high, especially among young adults in their 20’s, suggesting that these emerging technologies represent an element of modern sexual behavior and romantic relationships that warrant further attention. A sizable minority of young adults reported using AI technologies romantically or sexually, including almost one in four young adults engaging with AI chat technologies to replicate romantic interactions. Regression results suggested that various demographic factors predict engagement with AI technologies and that AI technology use was associated with negative individual well-being. These initial descriptive results suggest the need for further research on this emerging behavioral phenomenon as an important component of modern romantic and sexual interactions.
Sexual partner number and distribution over time affect long-term partner evaluation: Evidence from 11 countries across 5 continents
Andrew Thomas et al.
Scientific Reports, July 2025
Abstract:
A prospective partner’s sexual history provides important information that can be used to minimise mating-related risks. Such information includes the number of past sexual partners, which has an inverse relationship with positive suitor evaluation. However, sexual encounters with new partners vary in frequency over time, providing an additional dimension of context not previously considered. Across three studies (N = 5,331) with 15 samples, we demonstrate that the impact of past partner number on a suitor’s desirability as a long-term partner varies as a function of distribution over time. Using graphical representations of a suitor’s sexual history, we found that past partner number effects were smaller when the frequency of new sexual encounters decreased over time. This moderation effect was stronger, and often curvilinear, when past partner numbers were higher. We replicated these findings in 11 countries from five world regions. Sex differences were minimal and inconsistent pointing to a lack of a sexual double standards. Sociosexuality (openness to casual sex) was a consistent moderator and tended to mute the sexual history effects. These findings suggest that people not only attend to a potential long-term mate’s quantity of sexual partners, but also the context surrounding these encounters such as pattern and timing. Together, the findings raise the possibility of an evolved mechanism for managing mating risks present in both sexes and across populations and adds nuance to a contentious topic of public interest.
How online dating motivations and social networks affect warranting value and interpersonal impressions
Megan Vendemia
Journal of Media Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Popular online dating platforms feature self-authored profiles in which users can indicate their relational goals and interests. The ability to easily modify self-generated information raises questions about whether online daters are who they say they are offline. Informed by warranting theory, this experiment examined how online daters’ relational motivations and connections to social networks affect viewers’ authenticity judgments and interpersonal impressions. Results revealed that romantic relationship motives heightened viewers’ anticipated future interaction beliefs, which in turn, bolstered online daters’ perceived authenticity, trustworthiness, and goodwill. Results also demonstrated that connections to online daters’ broader social networks reduced relational uncertainty. Implications for warranting theory and online daters’ profile construction are discussed.
Not such fast friends? The effect of intimate conversation on social connection in text-based getting acquainted interactions
Christina Leckfor et al.
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, forthcoming
Abstract:
People can foster social connection in new relationships through intimate conversation comprised of reciprocal self-disclosure and responsiveness, but the limited affordances of text-based communication may hinder this process. The present study examined the effectiveness of intimate conversation in promoting social connection during texting and in-person interactions. Two hundred and eighty-six unacquainted dyads (N = 572) were randomly assigned to have an intimate or small talk conversation that occurred face-to-face or via text messaging on a smartphone. Afterward, participants reported how socially connected they felt to their conversational partner, including their self-disclosure, perceived partner responsiveness, and interpersonal closeness. Participants reported greater social connection after intimate (vs. small talk) and face-to-face (vs. texting) conversations, but the effect of intimate conversation did not differ across the two mediums. Exploratory mediation analyses revealed a serial indirect effect of conversation medium on social connection, such that texting (vs. face-to-face) interactions led to lower self-disclosure, which was then associated with lower perceived responsiveness and closeness. These findings suggest people can connect over texting through intimate conversation, but they may be less likely to self-disclose over texting than in face-to-face interactions, which can have downstream consequences for interpersonal closeness.
Low Power and High Psychopathy: A Toxic Combination for Psychological Aggression
Robert Körner, Astrid Schütz & Brad Bushman
Aggressive Behavior, September 2025
Abstract:
Power and aggression are core relational variables that share a fickle relationship. It is unclear whether high or low power relates to psychological aggression and under which circumstances. We tested psychopathy as a potential moderator in the power-aggression link because psychopathy is characterized by a lack of empathy and shallow emotional response. Psychopathy could strengthen the link between high power and psychological aggression because power ignites character traits and their corresponding behavior. Alternatively, psychopathy could strengthen the link between low power and psychological aggression because individuals high in psychopathy may attempt to compensate for their lack of power with aggression. We tested these competing hypotheses in a romantic context across two studies (N1 = 188 individuals, N2 = 226 couples). We found power to be negatively related to both actors' and partners' psychological aggression. Supporting the latter hypothesis, we found that the most psychologically aggressive people had low power and high psychopathy. In addition, people reported high psychological aggression when their partners were low in power and high in psychopathy. These findings advance existing power theories and research by highlighting how personality traits such as psychopathy affect both intra- and interpersonal links to psychological aggression.