Our research group investigates the psychological and evolutionary foundations of human social behavior, with a particular focus on mate choice, sexuality, personality, and social decision-making. Our work is conducted through international collaborations and combines large-scale survey research with experimental approaches to better understand how individuals navigate trade-offs between cooperation, self-interest, and relational strategies. Special emphasis is placed on sexual–economic exchange, dark personality traits, and mental health. Our overarching aim is to provide an integrated, empirically grounded account of the psychological mechanisms shaping human behavior.
Love, Mate Choice, and Relationship Dynamics
One core research area concerns romantic love, mate preferences, and relationship dynamics. Through international projects involving samples of over one hundred thousand participants, we examine how romantic love functions as a commitment signal and to what extent partner preferences are universal versus culturally contingent. These studies contribute to the cross-cultural validation of relationship-related measurement instruments and offer deeper insight into the motivational foundations of partner choice and relationship maintenance.
Sexuality, Sexual Motivation, and Emotion Regulation
Closely related to this line of research is our work on the psychology of sexuality, with a particular emphasis on sexual motivation, emotion regulation, and the functional diversity of sexual behavior. Several empirical studies address topics such as faking orgasm, sex as a coping strategy, and the dynamics of relationship-maintenance behaviors. Our group has conducted Hungarian adaptations and validations of internationally used questionnaires and has participated in large-scale, multi-country studies examining the cross-cultural measurement invariance of body image and body appreciation.
Sexual–Economic Exchange and Sugar Relationships
An independent research program focuses on the psychology of sexual–economic exchange, particularly openness to sugar relationships as a psychological attitude. Our findings indicate that attitudes toward sugar relationships are primarily associated with motivational factors and short-term mating orientation, whereas life history strategy variables show weaker and more indirect effects. Using global datasets covering more than eighty countries, we map the international distribution of sugar-related attitudes and examine their associations with social media use, body image, self-esteem, and early life experiences. These studies are complemented by longitudinal and experimental designs.
Personality, Dark Traits, and Manipulation
In the domain of personality research, we draw on evolutionary personality psychology, life history theory, and the study of dark personality traits (Dark Triad / Dark Tetrad). We investigate how adverse developmental environments contribute to specific personality patterns and how these traits relate to mate choice, risk-taking, manipulation, and long-term planning. Research on Machiavellianism places particular emphasis on cognitive, affective, and neurobiological mechanisms, as well as the situational conditions under which manipulative strategies become socially effective.
Social Decision-Making and Cooperation
Our work on social decision-making and cooperation employs innovative experimental games developed by the research group. These paradigms allow for the simultaneous examination of self-interest, within-group cooperation, and between-group cooperation. Using international samples, we analyze how personality traits, life history strategies, and ideological attitudes shape distinct cooperation profiles and strategic decision-making patterns.
Clinical and Health Psychology Research
The research group is also active in clinical and health psychology. Our studies examine psychological factors related to anxiety, sleep, pain perception, post-traumatic symptoms, and health-related decision-making. A dedicated line of research explores the role of fear and disgust in medical and health-related contexts, as well as the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic using cross-cultural data. In several projects, machine learning methods are applied to identify complex behavioral and psychological patterns.
Neurocognitive and Psychophysiological Studies
Our neurocognitive research focuses on the neural and physiological correlates of emotion regulation, as well as the effects of mental fatigue on visuomotor control and motivation. Using controlled experimental designs, we examine how prolonged cognitive load influences movement stability, flexibility, and effort-based decision-making, and how these changes are reflected in autonomic and electrophysiological indicators.
Overall, our research group aims to understand human behavior within an integrated bio–psycho–social and evolutionary framework. By combining large-scale empirical data, experimental methodologies, and advanced statistical techniques, we seek to advance both theoretical knowledge and the empirical understanding of social, relational, and mental health–related phenomena.
