When the grass on the other side of the fence doesn't matter: Reciprocal romantic interest neutralizes attentional bias towards attractive alternatives |
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Authors: | Nicolas Koranyi Klaus Rothermund |
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Institution: | Institut für Psychologie, Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine Psychologie II, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany |
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Abstract: | Attention is automatically captured by pictures of physically attractive faces. Although helpful for mate detection, a chronic attentional bias towards attractive opposite-sex faces interferes with relationship initiation because it detracts from the current choice. Therefore, we hypothesized that an orienting of attention to attractive opposite-sex faces is inhibited as soon as a potential mating partner reciprocates one's romantic feelings. Results of two experiments supported this idea: In a first study, imagining that an attractive person shows signs of reciprocal romantic interest eliminated automatic attentional capture by attractive opposite-sex faces. Similar results were obtained in a second study that analyzed intra-individual change in attentional biases during a longitudinal dating study. Results provide evidence for the role of automatic regulatory processes in relationship initiation and can be incorporated into more general models of (implicit) self-regulation. |
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