Human Mate Poaching: Tactics and Temptations for Infiltrating Existing Mateships David P. Schmitt Bradley University David M. Buss University of Texas at Austin The authors explored the psychology of romantically attracting someone who is already in a relationship— what can be called the process of human mate poaching. In Study 1 (N = 236), they found that attempts at poaching were relatively common and were linked with distinctive personality dispositions. Study 2 (TV = 220) documented that the perceived costs and benefits of poaching differed somewhat for men and women and depended on whether short-term or long-term poaching outcomes were targeted. Study 3 (N = 453) found support for 5 evolution-based hypotheses about the perceived effectiveness of poaching tactics. Study 4 (/V = 333) found that poaching effectiveness was influenced by the type of relationship being encroached on— marital, dating, long distance, highly committed, just beginning, or about to end. Discussion focuses on the importance of placing mate poaching within the broader context of human sexual strategies. Over the course of human evolutionary history, those who failed to attract mates generally failed to reproduce. Modern humans are descended from those who effectively solved the adaptive problem of romantic attraction, who succeeded in obtaining a fertile partner at least long enough to conceive (Buss, 1994). A growing body of evidence suggests that one of the most potent ways that individuals attract one another is by deploying romantic tactics that embody the evolved desires of the opposite sex (Tooke & Camire, 1991; Walters & Crawford, 1994). Moreover, because our evolved de- sires may differ somewhat between short-term and long-term re- lationship contexts (Buss & Schmitt, 1993), the effectiveness of romantic attraction tactics can vary as a function of temporal context as well (Schmitt & Buss, 1996). Much of the research on romantic attraction effectiveness is based on the implicit assumption that intrasexual competition centers around available mates in a mating pool. Those who successfully deploy the most effective romantic tactics best their same-sex rivals in attracting desirable and eligible mates. This assumption, however, bypasses a critical adaptive problem that must have been prevalent over human evolutionary history. Namely, many desirable mates are already mated and thus are not readily available or present in the eligible mating pool. Some David P. Schmitt, Department of Psychology, Bradley University; David M, Buss, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin. This research was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH-44206-02. We thank Ann M. Wood, Jennifer Cintron, and Sharon Everts for their help in conducting these research studies. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to David P. Schmitt, Department of Psychology, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois 61625. Electronic mail may be sent to dps@bradley.edu. researchers have argued, on the basis of analyses of traditional cultures, that in human ancestral conditions, most women became married at or shortly after puberty (Symons, 1979). This mating context would have greatly exacerbated the adaptive problem of finding a mate for those who were not already mated, particularly for men. Any degree of polygyny, a possible recurring feature of our ancestral past (Foley, 1996), would have further intensified the problem of successful romantic attraction for men. We call this distinctive dynamic of romantic attraction the problem of human mate poaching. Human Mate Poaching Defined We define human mate poaching as behavior intended to attract someone who is already in a romantic relationship. Because of the importance of temporal context in general romantic attraction (Schmitt & Buss, 1996), it is expected that some mate poaching behaviors will be designed to entice only temporary sexual deser- tions by the already-mated partner, culminating in brief affairs or short-term liaisons. Other forms of poaching attraction, however, may be designed to elicit a more permanent relationship defection and the eventual formation of a new long-term mating alliance. Both forms of mate poaching are assumed to involve premeditated actions by a mate poacher, actions specifically intended to lure someone away from an established romantic relationship. The assumption that mate poaching behavior is premeditated does not imply that all aspects of poaching attraction must be entirely conscious. For example, evolutionary perspectives are sometimes portrayed as assuming that romantic attraction behav- iors are consciously targeted at reproduction, because people knowingly want to maximize current reproductive success. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of evolutionary approaches to Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2001. Vol. 80. No. 6, 894-917 Copyright 2001 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0022-3514/0l/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.80.6.894 894 This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.