CAREER: Using Computer Simulations to Understand Mate Choice

选择一个浪漫的伴侣是大多数人一生中做出的最重要的决定。人们所爱的人往往会影响他们生活和工作的地点，他们与谁生孩子和抚养孩子，他们称之为朋友和家人的人，他们如何花费时间和金钱，谁庆祝他们的成功，以及谁在他们需要的时候支持他们。因此，恋爱关系的质量会广泛影响身体健康、精神健康和经济成功。理解人们如何形成和维持这些重要的关系是理解人类社会行为的核心。它也是改善人类健康、快乐和幸福的一种明显手段。然而，更深入地了解浪漫伴侣的选择过程，以及它在人类福利中所扮演的角色，是社会和行为科学的巨大挑战之一。恋爱关系是在复杂的社会环境中发展起来的。它们受到个人偏好、情敌之间的竞争以及随时间变化的相互吸引之间的相互作用的影响。对如此复杂和错综复杂的社会系统进行核算需要评估多个相互交织的过程，这些过程很难测量和观察。这个项目通过开发一种新的计算机模拟技术来解决这个问题。我们的目的是应用这一技术来加速对浪漫伴侣选择的基本理解。这项新技术（“情侣模拟”）比较了择偶理论在计算机模拟中重建实际恋爱关系的能力。配偶模拟为比较不同的人类配偶选择模型提供了第一个经验指标，将推动配偶选择研究的进展。该方法将有助于解决以下问题：(1)将抽象的、理想的偏好与现实的伴侣选择联系起来的决策过程究竟是什么？(2)这些早期的择偶决定与长期的关系质量和破裂有什么关系？(3)是否有可能识别出那些可能拥有充实和支持关系的人？在初步研究中，这项技术确定了浪漫伴侣选择的准确模型，并预测了浪漫关系的质量。该项目将进一步发展情侣模拟，将基于主体的建模与忠诚的情侣、恋爱关系随时间的变化和稳定以及初始关系形成的动态研究相结合。科学目标是建立更准确地描述浪漫伴侣选择的计算模型，并能更有效地帮助人们建立令人满意的关系。该项目还将为各种各样的早期职业研究人员提供计算方法方面的培训，并将为关系科学提供一种新颖的、经过验证的工具，以便在这些成功的基础上继续发展到未来。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The choice of a romantic partner is the most significant decision most people make in their lifetimes. Who people love often affects where they live and work, with whom they have and raise children, who they call friends and family, how they spend their time and money, who celebrates their successes, and who supports them in times of need. As a result, the quality of romantic relationships broadly affects physical health, mental health, and financial success. Understanding how people form and maintain these important relationships is central to understanding human social behavior. It is also a clear means of improving human health, happiness, and well being. Yet gaining a deeper understanding of the romantic partner choice process, and the role it plays in human welfare, is one of the great challenges of social and behavioral science. Romantic relationships develop within complex social environments. They are influenced by interactions between individual preferences, competition between romantic rivals, and mutual attractions that change over time. Accounting for such complex and intricate social systems requires assessing multiple, intertwined processes that are difficult to measure and observe. This project approaches the problem by developing a new computer simulation technique. The aim is to apply this technique to accelerate progress in basic understanding of romantic partner choice.This new technique ("couple simulation") compares theories of mate selection on their ability to reconstruct actual romantic relationships within computer simulations. Couple simulation will advance progress in mate choice research by providing the first empirical metrics for comparing different models of human mate selection. The method will help address questions such as: (1) what precisely are the decision processes that connect abstract, ideal preferences to real mate choices? (2) how do these early mate choice decisions relate to longer-term relationship quality and dissolution? (3) is it possible to identify those who are likely to have a fulfilling and supportive relationship? In preliminary studies, this technique identifies accurate models of romantic partner choice and predicts romantic relationship quality. This project will further develop couple simulation by combining agent-based modeling with studies of committed romantic couples, of change and stability in romantic relationships over time, and of the dynamics of initial relationship formation. The scientific aim is to produce computational models that more accurately describe romantic partner choice and that can more effectively aid people in forming fulfilling relationships. The project will also provide training in computational methods for a diverse group of early-career researchers, and it will contribute a novel, validated tool for relationship science to continue building on these successes into the future.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.