Power in non-romantic contexts makes people confident in their ability to attract potential partners, increasing their mating motivation and the likelihood of acting on this motivation. Four studies investigated whether perceptions of power within romantic relationships would also activate mating goals, intensifying desires for alternative partners. In Studies 1 and 2, participants underwent power manipulation and then described a sexual fantasy or evaluated photos of attractive strangers. Studies 3 and 4 used face-to-face interaction and daily experiences methods to examine the mechanisms underlying the link between power and extradyadic desires. Overall, high perceived relationship power was associated with increased interest in alternatives. Perceived relative mate value explained this association, suggesting that what determines whether power elicits extradyadic interest is not power perceptions alone but rather the feeling of having a higher mate value than one’s partner that accompanies elevated power and affects whether high-power individuals will prioritize their own needs in ways that may hurt their partners.

非浪漫环境中的权力使人们对自己吸引潜在伴侣的能力充满信心，增加他们的交配动机以及根据这种动机采取行动的可能性。四项研究调查了浪漫关系中的权力观念是否也会激活交配目标，从而增强对替代伴侣的渴望。在研究 1 和 2 中，参与者接受了权力操纵，然后描述了性幻想或评估了有吸引力的陌生人的照片。研究3和4使用面对面互动和日常经验的方法来检验权力与额外欲望之间联系的机制。总体而言，高感知关系力量与对替代方案的兴趣增加相关。感知的相对配偶价值解释了这种关联，表明决定权力是否引起额外兴趣的因素不仅仅是权力感知，而是一种比伴侣拥有更高配偶价值的感觉，这种感觉伴随着权力的提升，并影响高权力个体是否会优先考虑自己的伴侣。的需求可能会伤害他们的伴侣。