Selecting a long-term romantic partner is largely contingent upon identifying behavioral repertoires indicating an ability to foster individual and communal flourishing through benevolence and relational fidelity. Within this suite of socially desirable traits are virtues that could be critical in selecting long-term mates. The current program of research presents two studies investigating the extent people select mates embodying virtue. Study 1 tasked participants with indicating the desirability of prospective mates espousing high and low levels of the three fundamental virtues, as observed through the VIA Model: caring, self-control, and inquisitiveness. High levels of virtue were especially desirable for long-term mating, with the preference for self-control being largest. Study 2 considered dispositional preferences for long-term mating, as indexed through restricted sociosexuality, with sociosexually restricted individuals reporting aversion to prospective mates exhibiting low self-control. We frame results through an evolutionary context and recommend future research to understand the adaptive function of virtue.

Groups of rats learned a discrimination problem in a four-choice apparatus while exposed to one of six auditory stimulus conditions. The stimuli were: a selection of Mozart, an amelodic version of this piece, a selection of Schoenberg, an amelodic version of this piece, white noise, and quiet. None of the groups acquired the discrimination more quickly than quiet controls. Ss exposed to the Schoenberg music, the amelodic version of it, and to white noise performed more poorly than the controls. Presence of nonrhythmic auditory stimulation is detrimental to performance on a discrimination task.