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Culture and Love
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Buss (1994) A cross-cultural look at
Relationships

Sample consisted of over 10,000 participants from 37
cultures.

2 questionnaires were given regarding mate
selection/preference.

In all cultures, men preferred younger mates while women
preferred older mates. In 36/37 cultures, women ranked
financial prospects as more important than males.
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Cross-cultural findings
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USA: Love ranked 1st.
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Iran: Love ranked 3rd.
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Nigeria: Love ranked 4th.
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China: Love ranked 6th.
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South Africa (Zulu): Love ranked 7th.
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Simmons et al. (1986) US &
Germany v. Japan in view of love

Found romantic love was valued more in the US and in
Germany than in Japan. They argue that love is less valued in
more traditional cultures with strong, extended family ties.
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Levine et al. (1995) Individualist v.
Collectivist cultures and love

Found that individualistic countries were more likely to rate
love as essential to the establishment of a marriage, and to
agree that the loss of love is a sufficient reason for divorce.

Divorce rates are highly correlated with the belief that the
disappearance of love warranted the dissolution of marriage.
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An excerpt of Hmong’s woman
view of marriage
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Gupta & Singh (1992) Arranged
marriages v. Love marriages

Couples in India who had married for love reported
diminished feelings of love if they had been married for
more than 5 years. Arranged marriage couples reported
higher levels of love.
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Yelsma & Athappilly (1990)

Compared people from Indian arranged marriages with
people from Indian and American love marriages and found
the former to be more satisfied.