Eastwick Paul W, Hunt Lucy L
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2014 May;106(5):728-51. doi: 10.1037/a0035884. Epub 2014 Mar 10.
Classic evolutionary and social exchange perspectives suggest that some people have more mate value than others because they possess desirable traits (e.g., attractiveness, status) that are intrinsic to the individual. This article broadens mate value in 2 ways to incorporate relational perspectives. First, close relationships research suggests an alternative measure of mate value: whether someone can provide a high quality relationship. Second, person perception research suggests that both trait-based and relationship quality measures of mate value should contain a mixture of target variance (i.e., consensus about targets, the classic conceptualization) and relationship variance (i.e., unique ratings of targets). In Study 1, participants described their personal conceptions of mate value and revealed themes consistent with classic and relational approaches. Study 2 used a social relations model blocked design to assess target and relationship variances in participants' romantic evaluations of opposite-sex classmates at the beginning and end of the semester. In Study 3, a one-with-many design documented target and relationship variances among long-term opposite-sex acquaintances. Results generally revealed more relationship variance than target variance; participants' romantic evaluations were more likely to be unique to a particular person rather than consensual. Furthermore, the relative dominance of relationship to target variance was stronger for relational measures of mate value (i.e., relationship quality projections) than classic trait-based measures (i.e., attractiveness, resources). Finally, consensus decreased as participants got to know one another better, and long-term acquaintances in Study 3 revealed enormous amounts of relationship variance. Implications for the evolutionary, close relationships, and person-perception literatures are discussed.
经典的进化和社会交换观点认为，有些人比其他人具有更高的配偶价值，因为他们拥有个体内在的理想特质（如吸引力、地位）。本文从两个方面拓宽了配偶价值，以纳入关系视角。首先，亲密关系研究提出了一种衡量配偶价值的替代方法：即某人是否能够提供高质量的关系。其次，人际知觉研究表明，基于特质和关系质量的配偶价值衡量标准都应包含目标差异（即对目标的共识，这是经典概念）和关系差异（即对目标的独特评价）的混合。在研究1中，参与者描述了他们对配偶价值的个人概念，并揭示了与经典和关系方法一致的主题。研究2采用社会关系模型分组设计，在学期初和学期末评估参与者对异性同学浪漫评价中的目标差异和关系差异。在研究3中，一种一对多设计记录了长期异性熟人之间的目标差异和关系差异。结果总体上显示，关系差异比目标差异更多；参与者的浪漫评价更有可能是针对特定人的独特评价，而不是达成共识的评价。此外，对于配偶价值的关系衡量标准（即关系质量预测）而言，关系差异相对于目标差异的相对主导地位比基于经典特质的衡量标准（即吸引力、资源）更强。最后，随着参与者彼此了解得更好，共识减少，研究3中的长期熟人显示出大量的关系差异。本文讨论了对进化、亲密关系和人际知觉文献的启示。
