Mate selection is fundamental to our existence. However, we still know surprisingly little about the underlying computational and cognitive mechanisms. It has been the topic of intense psychological research for decades, spawning myriad hypotheses of why we choose whom we choose. PBS assistant professor Daniel Conroy-Beam has developed a “couple simulation” model that helps us dive into the mysteries of mate selection. In recent paper published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review, Prof. Conroy-Beam describe a new modeling approach designed to compare models of mate choice by challenging them to reproduce real couples within simulated mating markets. 

“The real advantage that we have here is that we’re going away from just verbal models and into explicit computational models,” Prof. Conroy-Beam said. “We’re directly simulating people’s real choices; we’re removing the limits of doing this in our own heads because we have computers that can keep track of all the very complicated interactions that are going on.”

For more about this story, please read this Current article by Sonia Fernandez.