title: Out of Lust or Jealousy: The Effects of Mate-Related Motives on Study-Time Allocation to Faces Varying in Attractiveness.
abstract: Although a growing number of empirical studies have revealed that activating mate-related motives might exert a specific set of consequences for human cognition and behaviors, such as attention and memory, little is known about whether mate-related motives affect self-regulated learning. The present study examined the effects of mate-related motives (mate-search and mate-guarding) on study-time allocation to faces varying in attractiveness. In two experiments, participants in mate-related priming conditions (Experiment 1: mate-search; Experiment 2: mate-guarding) or control conditions studied 20 female faces (10 highly attractive, 10 less attractive) during a self-paced study task, and then were given a yes/no face recognition task. The finding of Experiment 1 showed that activating a mate-search motive led the male participants to allocate more time to highly attractive female faces (i.e., perceived potential mates) than to less attractive ones. In Experiment 2, female participants in the mate-guarding priming condition spent more time studying highly attractive female faces (i.e., perceived potential rivals) than less attractive ones, compared to participants in the control condition. These findings illustrate the highly specific consequences of mate-related motives on study-time allocation, and highlight the value of exploring human cognition and motivation within evolutionary and self-regulated learning frameworks.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Weijian
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China; Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuchi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fengying
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xinyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Haide
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Haojie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ji
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001504:Beauty; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007578:Jealousy; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult