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Cooperative behaviour and perceived relationship longevity: an observer based study
Manktelow, Ken
Manktelow, Ken
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2026-12-31
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Abstract
Humans routinely evaluate the romantic relationships of others, a capacity that carries adaptive value for social learning, mate assessment, and coalition management. The present study examined how two cooperative norms, fairness and altruism, shape third party judgements of perceived relationship longevity, and whether these judgements vary according to relationship context and observer sex. Using an observer based experimental design, undergraduate participants viewed a short video of a couple engaged in a resource allocation task, framed as being in either a short term or long-term relationship. One partner behaved either fairly by dividing resources equally or altruistically by giving a greater share to the partner. Participants then rated how likely they believed the relationship was to last. Results revealed a significant three-way interaction between cooperative behaviour, relationship length, and participant sex. Fair behaviour was associated with greater perceived longevity in short term relationships, whereas altruistic behaviour was associated with greater perceived longevity in long term relationships, particularly among female observers. These findings indicate that cooperative behaviours are interpreted in context sensitive ways, and that the capacity to infer relationship stability from cooperative cues may serve evolutionarily relevant functions for observers.
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Bhogal, M.S., Galbraith, N., Manktelow, K. (in press) Cooperative behaviour and perceived relationship longevity: an observer based study. Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science.
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Journal article
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en
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© in press The authors. Published by The Human Behavior and Evolution Society of Japan. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence.
The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: [link TBC].
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ISSN
1884-927X
EISSN
1884-927X