The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Romantic Relationships

This handbook showcases the empirical and theoretical advancements in the evolutionary study of romantic relationships, tracing the psychological mechanisms that shape strategic computation and behavior across the lifespan of an intimate partnership. Written by global experts in their fields, each chapter provides an overview of historic and contemporary research on the psychological mechanisms and processes underlying initiation, maintenance, and dissolution of romantic relationships. The volume discusses popular and cutting-edge methods for data analysis and theory development, critically analyzing the state of evolutionary relationship science. It provides discerning recommendations for future research and integrates a broad range of topics (e.g., partner preference and selection, competition and conflict, jealousy and mate guarding, parenting, partner loss and divorce, and post-relationship affiliation) that are discussed alongside major sources of strategic variation in mating behavior, such as sex and gender diversity, developmental life history, neuroendocrine processes, technological advancement, and culture. The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Romantic Relationships enriches students' and established researchers' views across a diverse cross-section of relationship scholars and clinicians to incorporate evolutionary theorizing into their professional work, including those interested in social change and continuity in social and cultural psychology, sociology, political science, healthcare, and related fields.

Justin K. Mogilski earned his Ph.D. in evolutionary psychology from Oakland University in 2017. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina, Salkehatchie. He researches how evolution has shaped brain computation to adaptively guide the decisions that people make to initiate, maintain, and dissolve intimate relationships. He has published evolutionary, social, personality, and sexual psychology journals on topics spanning mate poaching, infidelity, cross-gender friendship, intimate partner conflict, moral decision-making, morphometric cues of partner attractiveness, and multivariate statistical analyses of human mate preference. Todd K. Shackelford received his Ph.D. in evolutionary psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997. Since 2010, he is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Shackelford has published around 400 journal articles and his work has been cited around 28,000 times. Much of Shackelford's research addresses sexual conflict between men and women, with a focus on men's physical, emotional, and sexual violence against their intimate partners.

Introduction Justin K. Mogilski and Todd K. Shackelford
Part 1: Relationship Initiation
1. The sexual selection of human mating strategies: Mate preferences and competition tactics David M. Buss 2. Physical cues of partner quality Ian D. Stephen and Severi Luoto 3. The three Cs of psychological mate preference: The psychological traits people want in their romantic and sexual partners Peter K. Jonason and Evita March 4. Partner evaluation and selection Norman P. Li and Bryan K. C. Choy 5. Hormonal mechanisms of partnership formation Anastasia Makhanova 6. Human intersexual courtship Neil R. Caton, David M. G. Lewis, Laith Al-Shawaf, and Kortnee C. Evans 7. Intrasexual mating competition Jaimie Arona Krems, Hannah K. Bradshaw, and Laureon A. Merrie 8. Initiation of non-heterosexual relationships Jaroslava Varella Valentova, Bruno Henrique Amaral, and Marco Antonio Correa Varella 9. Relationship initiation among older adults Chaya Koren and Liat Ayalon 10. Cross-cultural variation in relationship initiation Victor Karandashev
Part 2: Relationship Maintenance 11. Sexual conflict during relationship maintenance Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair, Trond Viggo Grøntvedt, Andrea Melanie Kessler, and Mons Bendixen 12. Jealousy in close relationships from an evolutionary and cultural perspective: Responding to real and feared rivals Abraham P. Buunk and Karlijn Massar 13. Hormonal mechanisms of in-pair mating and maintenance Amanda Denes, John P. Crowley, and Anuraj Dhillon 14. Mate guarding and partner defection avoidance Valerie G. Starratt 15. Intimate partner violence and relationship maintenance Gordon G. Gallup, Jr. and Rebecca L. Burch 16. Parenting and relationship maintenance Elizabeth M. Westrupp, Emma M. Marshall, Clair Bennett, Michelle Benstead, Gabriella King, and Gery C. Karantzas 17. Maintaining multi-partner relationships: Evolution, sexual ethics, and consensual non-monogamy Justin K. Mogilski, David L. Rodrigues, Justin. J. Lehmiller, and Rhonda N. Balzarini 18. Evolutionary perspectives on relationship maintenance across the spectrum of sexual and gender diversity Lisa M. Diamond and Jenna Alley 19. Relationship maintenance in older adults: Considering social and evolutionary psychological perspectives Ledina Imami and Christopher R. Agnew 20. Cultural variation in relationship maintenance Lora Adair and Nelli Ferenczi
Part 3: Relationship Dissolution 21. Relationship dissatisfaction and partner access deficits T. Joel Wade, James B. Moran, and Maryanne L. Fisher 22. In-pair divestment Simona Sciara and Giuseppe Pantaleo 23. Mate poaching, infidelity, and mate switching Joshua Everett Ryan and Edward P. Lemay, Jr. 24. Menstrual cycle variation in women's mating psychology: Empirical evidence and theoretical considerations Jan Havlícek and S. Craig Roberts 25. Affective reactions to divorce or spousal death Jeannette Brodbeck and Hans Joerg Znoj 26. Affective self-regulation after relationship dissolution Leah E. LeFebvre and Ryan D. Rasner 27. Post-relationship romance Michael R. Langlais and He Xiao 28. Evolutionary perspectives on post-separation parenting Lawrence J. Moloney and Bruce M. Smyth 29. Dissolution of LGBTQ+ relationships Madeleine Redlick Holland and Pamela J. Lannutti 30. Relationship dissolution among older adults Dimitri Mortelmans
Conclusion Justin K. Mogilski and Todd K. Shackelford