The image of young adults living in a hookup culture with emotionally meaningless relationships might be a common theme in movies and daytime talk shows. But it does not seem to be the norm in real college life, suggests a new study from University of California, Davis, researchers.

年轻人生活中的搭讪文化，毫无意义的恋情可能是电影和日间脱口秀的常见主题。但加州大学戴维斯分校的研究人员的一项新研究表明，在现实的大学生活中，这似乎不是常态。

The study, published May 28, is the first of its kind to look at early relationship development — the time period in which people experience rising and falling romantic interest for partners who could, but often do not, become committed partners; in other words, “crushes.” Previous studies have examined committed relationships on one extreme, and first impressions on the opposite extreme.

这项发表于5月28日的研究首次关注了早期关系的发展，在该段时间里，人们对那些可能(但往往不会)成为忠诚伴侣的情侣，他们的浪漫与兴趣总是忽高忽低，换句话说，就是迷恋。之前的研究从一个极端审视了忠诚的关系，而第一印象则是另一个极端。

To obtain their data, researchers surveyed 208 heterosexual college students at a Midwestern university about their dating habits, their various likes and dislikes, and attraction to potential partners over a seven-month period. Participants described an average of five crushes during this stretch of time and reported about 15% of them turning into dating relationships at some point. They collected a total of over 7,000 reports on these potential partners.

为了获得数据，研究人员在7个月的时间里调查了美国中西部一所大学的208名异性恋大学生的约会习惯、各种喜好和厌恶的事情，以及对潜在伴侣的吸引力。在这段时间里，参与者平均描述了5次迷恋，其中约15%的人在某种程度上发展成了恋爱关系。他们总共收集了7000多份关于这些潜在伴侣的报告。

What predicted whether or not these attractions ultimately fizzled?

是什么预言了这些吸引力最终会失败?

“What took us by surprise is that many of the important factors were the same things you would have seen in a committed relationship,” noted Paul Eastwick, UC Davis professor in the Department of Psychology and lead author of the study. “This supposed hookup melee actually looks a lot like people taking relationships for a test run.”

该研究的主要作者、加州大学戴维斯分校心理学系教授保罗·伊斯特威克指出:“让我们惊讶的是，许多重要的因素和你在一段稳定的关系中看到的东西是一样的。这种所谓搭讪混战实际上看起来很像人们在尝试恋情。”

The authors used machine-learning approaches to identify the strongest predictors of romantic interest in each crush. Machine learning, or the use of algorithms and statistical models to analyze and draw inferences from patterns in data, is especially useful at identifying predictors that are likely to be robust and replicable, the authors said.

作者使用机器学习的方法来确定每一次恋爱中最强烈的预测因素。作者说，机器学习，或使用算法和统计模型来分析和推断数据中的模式，在识别可能是稳健的和可复制的预测因素方面特别有用。

Over the course of the study, some of the best predictors of sustained interest in a partner turned out to be markers of attachment, such as seeking out someone’s presence as much as possible, feeling distressed when separated from them, and wanting to tell them about successes. These features are traditionally considered markers of pair-bonded relationships.

在研究过程中，一些对伴侣持续感兴趣的最佳预测因素被证明是依恋的标志，比如尽可能地寻找某人的存在，与他们分离时感到痛苦，以及想要告诉他们成功的消息。这些特征通常被认为是配对关系的标志。

“When feelings of attachment and emotional connection start to kick in, young adults seem to take it as a sign that this is a crush worth pursuing,” said study co-author Samantha Joel, an assistant professor of psychology at Western University. “Sexual and emotional attraction seem to go hand-in-hand, even before a committed relationship materializes.”

该研究的合著者、西方大学心理学助理教授萨曼莎·乔尔说:“当依恋和情感连接的感觉开始显现时，年轻人似乎认为这是值得追求的迹象。性和情感的吸引似乎是携手并进的，甚至在一段忠诚的关系实现之前。”

Other factors that were known to be critical in initial impression contexts had no effect at all in the current study. Specifically, physical attractiveness — the most commonly studied variable in the whole initial attraction literature — was surprisingly weak.

在当前的研究中，其他已知的在最初印象环境中至关重要的因素完全没有影响。具体来说，身体吸引力——整个最初吸引力文献中最常研究的变量——出奇地弱。

Participants also uploaded photographs of their crushes, and the researchers used a team of coders, who didn’t know the subjects of the photographs or anything about them, to rate how physically attractive the crushes were on a 1-10 scale. This variable turned out to be completely irrelevant to whether participants were romantically interested in the crushes.

参与者还上传了他们暗恋对象的照片，研究人员让一组不认识照片对象或任何关于他们的事情的编码人员，在1-10的范围内对暗恋对象的外貌吸引力进行评分。结果证明，这个变量与参与者是否对迷恋感兴趣完全无关。

“If we had been looking at a bar, or speed-dating — a setting where you have to compete to be noticed — these coder ratings of physical attractiveness should have been exceptionally good at predicting which partners were highly desired and which ones were not,” Eastwick explained. “But that isn’t what the data revealed at all.”

伊斯特维克解释说:“如果我们观察的是酒吧或速配约会——在这种场合，你必须通过竞争来获得关注——这些编码器对身体吸引力的评级应该能特别好地预测哪些伴侣是最受欢迎的，哪些不是。”“但这根本不是数据所揭示的。”

According to Eastwick, these findings imply that early relationship development is a mating context in which people search for evidence of compatibility. “It isn’t about fighting to get the ‘most valuable’ partner you can,” he said. “It’s about trying to find someone who inspires both a sexual and emotional connection. That’s how young people initiate relationships.”  

伊斯特威克认为，这些发现表明，早期的关系发展是一种求偶的环境，人们在这种环境中寻找兼容的证据。他说:“这不是为了争取你能找到的‘最有价值’的合作伙伴。”“这是关于试图找到一个能同时激发两性和情感联系的人。年轻人就是这样开始恋爱的。”

The study, “Predicting Romantic Interest During Early Relationship Development: A Preregistered Investigation Using Machine Learning,” was published in The European Journal of Personality. Co-authors were Joel; Kathleen Carswell, assistant professor, Durham University; Daniel C. Molden and Eli J. Finkel, professors, Northwestern University; and Shelley A. Blozis, professor of psychology, UC Davis. This study was designed by Molden and Finkel.

这项名为“在早期关系发展中预测恋爱兴趣:使用机器学习的预先登记调查”的研究发表在《欧洲人格杂志》上。合作者是约珥;杜伦大学助理教授凯瑟琳·卡斯韦尔;西北大学教授Daniel C. Molden和Eli J. Finkel;以及加州大学戴维斯分校的心理学教授Shelley A. Blozis。这项研究由Molden和Finkel设计。