Peak of desire: activating the mating goal changes life-stage preferences across living kinds.

Full Abstract

In three studies, we explored the existence of an evolved sensitivity to the peak that would be consistent with the evolutionary origins of many basic human preferences. Activating the evolved motive of mating activates related adaptive mechanisms, including a general sensitivity to cues of growth and decay associated with determining mate value in human courtship. These studies show that priming the mating goal also activates an evaluative bias that influences how people evaluate cues of growth. Specifically, living kinds that are immature or past their prime are devalued, whereas living kinds that are at their peak become increasingly valued. Study 1 establishes this goal-driven effect for human stimuli indirectly related to the mating goal. Studies 2 and 3 establish that the evaluative bias produced by the activated mating goal extends to living kinds, but not artifacts.

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Author information

Author/s: Huang, Julie Y (JY); Bargh, John A (JA);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. julie.huang(-atsign-)yale.edu

Grants: R01 MH 67067 (Agency:United States NIMH)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jun; vol 19 (issue 6) : pp 573-8

Dates: Created 2008/06/26; Completed 2008/08/28;

PMID: 18578847, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Courtship - psychology
Cues
Female
Goals

Goals
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Motivation
Prejudice
Sexual Behavior - psychology; statistics & numerical data

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