Partner Selection across Culture, Psychology of (original) (raw)

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001

Abstract

Although family structures and forms vary across cultures, marriage and its integral process of selection of a partner are universal phenomena. The modes and criteria for partner selection evolve from the rules or normative frameworks and related social psychological orientations prevalent in different cultural contexts. A recent trend in the scientific study of partner selection is to merge disciplinary perspectives and approaches in order to reach a comprehensive understanding of the different phases and elements of the process. An example is the integration of the evolutionary and social psychological or cultural perspectives. This article focuses upon the cultural context as providing shared schemas of meaning and knowledge systems that serve as a framework for individual and group experiences of marriage partner selection. In response to the global scenario of industrialization and urbanization, individuals are operating to reinterpret and reconstruct the cultural schemas. Importantly, adaptations are revealed in the social psychological world views, specifically the individualist and collectivist orientations characterizing the different cultures. The article includes a case profile of the Indian context which is in the midst of the flux of social change and depicts a melange of traditional-collectivist and modern-individualist social psychological perspectives of partner selection.

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