Synonyms
Definition
Relationship satisfaction and commitment refer to the extent to which people are happy with and intend to maintain their intimate relationships.
Introduction
Throughout evolutionary history, humans evolved various cognitions, emotions, and behaviors that helped them to overcome the numerous adaptive challenges that they faced. Those cognitions, emotions, and behaviors, in turn, functioned to increase survival and future gene propagation. Not only did such adaptive challenges include those associated with producing offspring, ancestral men and women also faced challenges associated with the ability to successfully rear offspring to reproductive age. Traditional evolutionary perspectives argue that one way humans overcame this challenge was by forming lasting pair bonds, or long-term, romantic relationships, which functioned to provide offspring with biparental care (Kokko and Jennions 2003). Indeed, individuals who were...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Fletcher, G. J., Simpson, J. A., Thomas, G., & Giles, L. (1999). Ideals in intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 72–89.
Kelley, H. H., & Thibaut, J. E. (1978). Interpersonal relations: A theory of interdependence. New York: Wiley.
Kokko, H., & Jennions, M. (2003). It takes two to tango. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 18, 103–104.
McNulty, J. K., Olson, M. A., Meltzer, A. L., & Shaffer, M. J. (2013). Though they may be unaware, newlyweds implicitly know whether their marriage will be satisfying. Science, 342, 1119–1120.
Meltzer, A. L., McNulty, J. K., Jackson, G. L., & Karney, B. R. (2014a). Men still value physical attractiveness in a long-term mate more than women: Rejoinder to Eastwick, Neff, Finkel, Luchies, and Hunt (2014). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 435–440.
Meltzer, A. L., McNulty, J. K., Jackson, G. L., & Karney, B. R. (2014b). Sex differences in the implications of partner physical attractiveness for the trajectory of marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 418–428.
Nesse, R. M., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2009). Evolution, emotions, and emotional disorders. American Psychologist, 64, 129–139.
Rogers, S. J., & DeBoer, D. D. (2001). Changes in wives’ income: Effects on marital happiness, psychological well-being, and the risk of divorce. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 458–472.
Rusbult, C. E., Olsen, N., Davis, J. L., & Hannon, P. (2001). Commitment and relationship maintenance mechanisms. In J. H. Harvey & A. Wenzel (Eds.), Close romantic relationships: Maintenance and enhancement (pp. 87–113). Mahwah: Erlbaum.
Shackelford, T. K., & Buss, D. M. (1997). Marital satisfaction in evolutionary psychology perspective. In R. J. Sternberg & M. Hojjat (Eds.), Satisfaction in close relationships (pp. 7–25). New York: Guilford Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Meltzer, A.L. (2018). Relationship Satisfaction and Commitment. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1742-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1742-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences