In contemporary Western societies, people tend to initiate romantic relationships based on explicit signals that can be observed by others. These are physical appearance, clothing style, body language, behavioral patterns, facial expression, eye contact, and verbal communication, among many others.
There is a growing recognition of the importance of implicit cues that convey emotional states such as love, desire, affection, attention seeking, and romantic interest. Implicit cues are nonverbal, involuntary, unconscious, often subtle, and difficult to interpret. They may include pheromones, hormonal secretions, microexpressions, physiological responses, brain activity, gestures, gaze patterns, vocal tone, touching, body posture, breathing rate, skin conductance, pupil dilation, heartbeat acceleration, etc. Researchers have investigated how these cues interact with explicit cues to shape partner selection and relational commitment. The findings suggest that people's attraction towards one another depends on a combination of both explicit and implicit cues. Explicit cues provide objective information about potential partners while implicit cues reveal their hidden feelings, preferences, intentions, and compatibility. Romantic attraction involves an interplay between conscious and unconscious processes, individual and environmental factors, cognitive and affective components, and short-term and long-term considerations. Intriguingly, implicit cues seem to play a more significant role in initial attraction than explicit ones but become less important over time as couples grow closer emotionally and psychologically. This dynamic process can be influenced by various factors including personality traits, cultural norms, social context, relationship history, previous experiences, perceived similarity or dissimilarity, power dynamics, sexual orientation, gender roles, and societal expectations.
Physical attractiveness is an essential explicit factor that influences pairing up, but the intensity of romantic interest depends on implicit signals such as synchrony, reciprocity, liking, arousal, mutual approach behaviors, emotional responsiveness, and receptivity. Interestingly, implicit cues may override explicit signals if they are stronger, consistent, and congruent with each other.
This complex phenomenon requires further investigation to better understand how it operates in different settings and situations, and its implications for healthy relationships and well-being.
How do implicit and explicit cues of romantic attraction interact to influence partner selection and relational commitment?
Implicit and explicit cues of romantic attraction both play important roles in influencing partner selection and relational commitment. Both types of cues can contribute to initial attraction and ongoing relationship success, although they may not always be equally influential depending on the individual's personal characteristics and social context.