Deceptive Affection (like faking sexual pleasure, expressing affection when feeling negatively) Is Strategically Expressed Under Relational Threat—but Not Towards Partners with Low Mate Value

Caton, Neil R., and Sean M. Horan. 2021. “Deceptive Affection Is Strategically Expressed Under Relational Threat—but Not Towards Partners with Low Mate Value.” PsyArXiv. August 14. doi:10.31234/osf.io/8wm9j

Abstract: Drawing on data from 1,993 participants, we demonstrated that deceptive affectionate messages (DAMs; e.g., faking sexual pleasure, expressing affection when feeling negatively) are the behavioral output of an evolved psychological system that strategically operates to maintain significant pair bonds (i.e., high mate value partners)—but not non-significant pair bonds (i.e., low mate value partners)—and regulates the expression of this behavioral output depending on an underlying cost-benefit ratio. This system is uniquely and nonrandomly designed to increasingly generate DAMs when the target individual’s highly-valued partnership is under relational threat and increasingly withdraw DAMs when the highly-valued partnership is not under threat—but neither increasingly generate nor withdraw DAMs for non-valuable partnerships—to maximize the benefits afforded by valuable romantic partnerships.