What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people’s highest social priorities.

There is little and unsystematic evidence about whether the content of stereotypes can vary within a culture. Using the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) as a theoretical framework, in two studies we examined the content of stereotypes in an Eastern European culture, namely Romania. Data were collected from four regions prototypical in terms of economic and social development in Romania, and we examined whether the content of stereotypes varies across these regions. As expected, the findings confirm the applicability of the SCM in Romania to reveal culture-specific stereotypes and provide initial support for within-culture variation in the content of stereotypes. We discuss, in particular, possible reasons for two main findings: a strong one-dimensional structure of stereotypes, and regional differences in stereotype content.

Cognitive heuristics, or people’s stereotypes, are central to human interaction. Yet, the literature has been concerned with inter-ethnic stereotypes held by migrants and therefore has insufficiently addressed what might happen to individuals’ cognitive heuristics in the process of acculturating to host cultures. The authors discuss this gap in the literature by drawing on the culture learning perspective and work on cultural adaptation to examine migrants’ cognitive cultural adaptation. The concept of stereotype accommodation is introduced as a cognitive process whereby migrants incorporate the stereotype-relevant information learned in their host cultures into their preexisting stereotypes. Furthermore, a framework is presented for how cross-cultural differences, learning opportunities, individual differences, and cognitive resources might contribute to stereotype accommodation. The conclusion of this analysis is that, like any other individuals, migrants hold cognitive heuristics about varying groups in society and, moreover, these can be influenced and potentially modified by the mental short-cuts that are relevant in their host cultures.

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