Extending the growing literature on adaptive functionality of inner experiential states, we take the approach that life satisfaction functions as a part of a psychological system that monitors current and potential achievement on important goals. From this perspective, life satisfaction is sensitively calibrated to how well one is moving toward success on important goals, thereby providing useful information for, and potentially motivating, subsequent goal-facilitating action. Focusing on mating goals, we investigated whether currently active and important mating goals shape the extent to which life satisfaction is sensitively and selectively calibrated by goal-specific cues of potential mating success—self-perceived mate value. As hypothesized, because most individuals (eventually) seek long-term committed relationships, self-perceived long-term mate value predicted life satisfaction for men and women regardless of relationship status. In contrast, and also as hypothesized, self-perceived short-term mate value predicted life satisfaction only for individuals with short-term casual mating goals—single uncommitted men (Studies 1, 2 A, and 2B), individuals dispositionally motivated toward short-term relationships (Studies 2 A and 2B), and single uncommitted women for whom short-term mating motivation was experimentally engaged, enabling causal inference (Study 3). Results support a functional conceptualization of life satisfaction, showing that currently active mating goals can shape the extent to which goal-specific self-perceived mate value predicts life satisfaction.

扩展关于内在体验状态的适应性功能的越来越多的文献，我们采用这样的方法，即生活满意度作为心理系统的一部分来监控重要目标的当前和潜在成就。从这个角度来看，生活满意度被敏感地校准为一个人在实现重要目标方面取得成功的程度，从而为后续的目标促进行动提供有用的信息，并可能激励他们采取行动。专注于交配目标，我们调查了当前活跃和重要的交配目标是否影响了生活满意度在多大程度上被潜在交配成功的特定目标线索——自我感知的配偶价值敏感地和选择性地校准。正如假设的那样，因为大多数人（最终）寻求长期忠诚的关系，自我感知无论关系状况如何，长期伴侣价值都能预测男性和女性的生活满意度。相比之下，也正如假设的那样，自我感知的短期配偶价值预测的生活满意度仅适用于具有短期随意交配目标的个人——未承诺的单身男性（研究 1、2 A 和 2B），个人倾向短期——长期关系（研究 2 A 和 2B），以及通过实验参与短期交配动机的未承诺的单身女性，从而实现因果推论（研究 3）。结果支持生活满意度的功能概念化，表明当前积极的交配目标可以影响特定目标的自我感知配偶价值预测生活满意度的程度。