Relational Mobility and Calculative Mindset in Mate Choice

In today's China, people tend to break down their own and others' profiles into numbers and ranks during the blind date process, using these indexes to find perfect matches. For example, a female with 7 points might be matched with a male with 7 points. This study aims to address the following questions: What social mentality is reflected in this phenomenon, and why does it occur? Firstly, the tendency is conceptualized as a calculative mindset in mate choice—a cognitive process that translates dating information into a quantitative index. Thereafter, the study proposes that individuals tend to adopt this strategy in mate choice due to the increasing relational mobility in contemporary Chinese society, viewed from a socio-ecological perspective.Study 1 (N = 44,703) utilized province-level statistical data from the nationwide statistical yearbook and online dating websites to preliminarily test our hypothesis on a macro scale across 31 provinces. Specifically, the divorce-to-marriage rate was calculated to represent relational mobility, and the calculative mindset index was obtained based on self-introductions and mating requirements using text analysis with Python. Study 2 (N = 311) explored the questions at the individual level through questionnaires. It collected data on individuals' perceptions of relational mobility in their current environment and their inclination to use a calculative mindset for cognitively processing both others' profiles and their own in the mate choice process. In Study 3A (N = 130) and Study 3B (N = 132), which aimed to establish a causal relationship between variables, participants were induced with high or low relational mobility mindsets. Subsequently, they were asked to express their preferences regarding the use of graded profiles for assessing others and presenting themselves separately.