A social and evolutionary psychological approach to understanding human mate rejection and aggression

Abstract

The human mating literature focuses on largely on mate selection, while predominantlyignoring mate rejection. Mate rejection refers to either romantic or sexual rejection prior torelationship formation, as well as break-ups following established relationships. This thesis takes anevolutionary approach to propose that heterosexual mate rejection carries potential risks andbenefits to our fitness, and is fuelled by a complex, dynamic set of considerations. Given that it wasa problem faced regularly by our ancestors, mate rejection should have given rise to evolvedbehavioral and psychological adaptations, particularly those aimed at avoiding physical threats suchas aggression and violence. In this thesis, I first discuss mate rejection in terms of its socialcorrelates (Chapter 1). Then, I explore mate rejection from an evolutionary perspective, presentinga series of novel hypotheses particularly with regard to aggression and dominance (Chapter 2).Chapter 3 then introduces Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). This generalized world-viewrelates to social hierarchies, with those who display high levels of SDO showing strong support forinequality. Over two studies I demonstrate that SDO is a key predictor of men’s adverse reactions tomate rejection, and that it might act as a precursor of the relationship between hostile sexism andnegative behaviors and attitudes towards women rejecters (Chapter 4). I extend these findings overthree subsequent studies, showing that both men’s and women’s SDO is related to aggressiveresponses to mate rejection (Chapter 5). I also find evidence that perceived SDO is linked withreports of abuse in mate rejection contexts, and that perceived SDO predicts the strategy peoplechoose to reject a mate. Further, I show that neither aggressive nor friendly/positive rejectionstrategies are helpful when rejecting people who are high in SDO, and may even increase the risk ofabusive reactions. Finally, I discuss the overall findings presented within the thesis (Chapter 6). Inthis chapter I also speculate about possible protective rejection strategies, and address my findingsof a lack of gender differences in aggression surrounding mate rejection. Limitations andsuggestions for future research are proposed. The overarching goal of this thesis is to contribute tothe under-researched domain of human mate rejection, and link generalized world-views toevolutionarily relevant dangers during rejection.