Research article summary (published 17 May 2009):

Cooperative courtship: helping friends raise and raze relationship barriers.

Full Abstract

Do people help each other form romantic relationships? Research on the role of the social environment in relationship formation has traditionally focused on competition, but this article investigates novel patterns of cooperation within courtship interactions. Drawing on a functional/evolutionary perspective, women are predicted to cooperate primarily in building romantic thresholds and barriers; men are predicted to cooperate primarily in achieving romantic access. In support of these predictions, four studies reveal that people consistently perceive cooperation, report cooperative behavior, and make cooperative decisions in romantic situations. People also provide the opposite pattern of help to opposite-sex friends from that provided to same-sex friends, suggesting that assistance is flexibly tuned to differences in the romantic selectivity of recipients. Cooperative courtship is revealed to be a commonly used set of mating strategies by which people functionally tailor aid to promote both their own and their friends' romantic relationship interests.

Author information

Author/s: Ackerman, Joshua M (JM); Kenrick, Douglas T (DT);

Affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. joshua.ackerman(-atsign-)yale.edu

Grants: MH64734 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

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

Journal: Personality and social psychology bulletin (Pers Soc Psychol Bull), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Oct; vol 35 (issue 10) : pp 1285-300

Dates: Created 2009/09/04; Completed 2009/10/19;

PMID: 19458093, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/19/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent Cooperative Behavior Courtship - psychology Female Friends - psychology Gender Identity Helping Behavior

Helping Behavior Humans Male Models, Psychological Social Environment Social Facilitation Young Adult

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