Chapter 38 Quiz

12 questions. Questions 1–8 are multiple choice; Questions 9–12 are short answer.

1. Research on users of AI companion apps like Replika finds that the needs driving their use most commonly include:

a) Primarily sexual gratification unavailable in real relationships b) Availability without burden, non-judgment, consistency, and loneliness management during social transitions c) A desire to replace human relationships entirely d) Primarily entertainment and novelty-seeking

Answer: b — Survey and interview research identifies availability, consistency, non-judgment, and transition-period loneliness management as the primary motivators, not primarily sexual or relationship-replacement motivations.

2. The "calibration concern" about AI companion relationships refers to:

a) The AI providing inaccurate information about real relationships b) The possibility that AI relationships create implicit standards of availability and patience that real human relationships, where partners have their own needs, will consistently fail to meet c) The risk of users calibrating their AI companion settings incorrectly d) Overly simplified emotional responses from AI systems

Answer: b — An AI optimized for user satisfaction creates an implicit standard that real, reciprocal human relationships — which involve partners' own needs and limitations — will predictably fail to match.

3. Asexuality is best defined as:

a) The absence of sex drive due to hormonal deficiency b) A choice to remain celibate for religious or personal reasons c) A sexual orientation characterized by little or no sexual attraction to others, distinct from low libido, celibacy, and sexual dysfunction d) Lack of interest in romantic relationships

Answer: c — Asexuality is an orientation, not a dysfunction or a choice, and is distinct from low libido and from aromanticism (lack of romantic attraction).

4. Research on consensual non-monogamy (CNM) generally finds:

a) CNM relationships show lower relationship satisfaction and wellbeing than monogamous relationships b) CNM is associated with higher rates of jealousy and instability across all relationship types studied c) People in genuinely consensual CNM relationships do not show lower relationship satisfaction or wellbeing compared to people in monogamous relationships d) CNM only works for people with avoidant attachment styles

Answer: c — When CNM is truly consensual and aligned with all partners' values, relationship outcomes are comparable to monogamy on standard satisfaction and wellbeing measures.

5. The "relationship recession" most accurately refers to:

a) The global economic recession's effect on dating app usage b) A documented pattern of declining rates of sexual activity, partnership formation, and marriage among young adults, particularly in the US c) A sharp decline in relationship satisfaction among married couples d) Reduced investment in relationship maintenance behaviors

Answer: b — The term, used by Twenge and others, describes the pattern of declining sexual activity, partnership, and marriage rates, particularly apparent in data from the 2010s onward.

6. The commercial genetic compatibility services offering "MHC-based matching" face which primary scientific critique?

a) MHC incompatibility causes immune dysfunction in couples b) The laboratory finding that MHC dissimilarity affects olfactory attractiveness is small and context-dependent, and the leap to commercial matching services claiming to improve relationship quality goes far beyond what the evidence supports c) Genetic privacy regulations prevent companies from using MHC data d) MHC variation is too small to detect with current sequencing technology

Answer: b — The original finding (Wedekind sweaty T-shirt studies) is real but modest and context-dependent; its amplification into commercial relationship products claims far more than the evidence justifies.

7. According to Section 38.11, which of the following human relational needs appears most stable across technological change?

a) The need for algorithmically optimized partner selection b) The need for physical novelty and variety in partners c) The need to feel genuinely understood, for mutuality, embodied presence, and continuity through time d) The need for clear relationship categorization (relationship vs. casual)

Answer: c — Cross-cultural and longitudinal research points to needs for genuine understanding, mutual investment, physical co-presence, and temporal continuity as the stable core beneath all technological mediation.

8. The chapter's discussion of oxytocin as a potential "love drug" concludes that:

a) Intranasal oxytocin reliably increases love and bonding when administered b) Oxytocin research is entirely fabricated and has no basis in neuroscience c) Oxytocin has modest, context-dependent effects and may intensify existing social motivations (including negative ones); a simple "love drug" application is not supported by evidence d) Oxytocin is primarily useful for treating relationship anxiety, not for enhancing positive affect

Answer: c — The oxytocin literature has been significantly overhyped; effects are real but modest and bidirectional, and the early research suffered from replication failures.

9. Short Answer (3–4 sentences): What is the "mutuality need" described in Section 38.11, and why does it suggest that AI companion relationships may be incomplete even when users report genuine satisfaction with them?

Model answer: The mutuality need is the need not just to be cared for but to care for something that needs your care — to be in a relationship where something is at stake for both parties. Even users who report satisfaction with AI companions frequently describe a felt absence: the sense that the connection is not fully real because the AI has nothing at stake in the relationship and is not affected by what it learns about the user. This suggests that even genuine feelings toward an AI companion may be accompanied by a persistent sense that the most important dimension of reciprocity — being needed, mattering to someone who can be affected by your presence or absence — is unavailable.

10. Short Answer (3–4 sentences): Explain the structural misalignment in dating app business models described in Section 38.4, and why it matters for evaluating the promise of "better algorithms."

Model answer: Dating apps profit from user engagement; the optimal outcome for the user — finding a lasting partner and leaving the app — is the worst outcome for the company's revenue. This creates systematic incentives to design apps that maximize engagement rather than effectiveness at partner-finding. It matters for evaluating "better algorithms" because even a genuinely superior matching algorithm would face these design pressures: companies may not deploy their best matching technology if it successfully reduces user retention. The misalignment is structural, not fixable by better engineering alone.

11. Short Answer (3–4 sentences): Explain the distinction between asexuality and aromanticism, and why understanding them as orthogonal dimensions of attraction matters theoretically.

Model answer: Asexuality refers to little or no sexual attraction; aromanticism refers to little or no romantic attraction. These are orthogonal: asexual people may experience romantic attraction and seek romantic (but non-sexual) partnerships; aromantic people may experience sexual attraction while having little interest in romantic relationships. Understanding them as orthogonal challenges the common assumption that sexual and romantic attraction are always paired, revealing that "attraction" is not a single unified phenomenon but involves at least two distinct systems that can operate independently. This has implications for how researchers and practitioners define and study intimacy and relationship seeking.

12. Short Answer (4–5 sentences): Jordan says in the closing scene: "The science doesn't replace the attention. It teaches you what to pay attention to." Explain what this means as a summary of the book's central argument, using at least two specific concepts from across the course.

Model answer: Jordan's line captures the distinction between scientific knowledge as a tool and as an answer. The science of seduction cannot give someone the experience of being loved — it cannot create the mutual understanding and genuine responsiveness that, per the Okafor-Reyes Year 4 data, most reliably predicts long-term relationship satisfaction. What it can do is teach a person to notice, for instance, that they are engaged in a Four Horsemen pattern (Gottman, Ch. 37) and that their criticism of a partner is character-attack rather than specific complaint. Or it can reveal that the "preferences" they feel sure are personal are partly racial hierarchies absorbed from cultural scripts (Ch. 25), allowing them to examine rather than simply enact those preferences. The science does not replace the attention that intimacy requires — the moment-to-moment attunement to another person that makes love possible. It gives the attention a better target: the mechanisms that would otherwise operate below awareness, shaping behavior in ways that neither party understands or chooses.