ABSTRACT
This chapter describes recent evidence for the role that evolved motivational systems play in forming and maintaining sexual and romantic relationships. Thinking there are more highly attractive people in the local community than there really are, for instance, could lead people to develop unrealistically high standards for their romantic partners, and could even reduce people's commitment to a current relationship. Examining lower-order cognitive processes such as attention can also help test sex differences in terms of the characteristics that men and women prioritize in a romantic partner. Many of the traits that make men attractive to women as sexual partners are linked to the presence of high testosterone levels. Indeed, a primary threat to close relationships is the temptation of relationship alternatives, and infidelity is one of the most consistent predictors of divorce. Participants who had written the romantic love priming essay displayed substantially less attention to images of attractive opposite-sex targets.
