Table 5.

Critical tests analysis between competing hypotheses for the function of kissing

Research question	Predictions of each hypothesis
	Mate assessment (Hyp. 1)	Arousal (Hyp. 2)	Bonding (Hyp. 3)	Observed result
Women believe kissing is more important in relationships than men do	YES	NO*	YES	YES
High mate-value participants believe kissing is more important than low mate-value participants	YES	NO*	YES	YES
Kissing importance at early (E) vs. late (L) stages of relationship	E > L*	E = L*	E < L*	E = L
High SOI participants value kissing more at early stages of a relationship	YES *	NO	NO	YES
Low SOI participants value kissing more at late stages of a relationship	NO	NO	YES *	YES
High SOI male participants value kissing more than low SOI male participants	YES *	NO	NO	YES
Women more likely to have attraction change after an initial kiss than men	YES *	NO	NO	YES
High mate-value participants more likely to have attraction change after an initial kiss	YES *	NO	NO	YES
High SOI participants more likely to have attraction change after an initial kiss	YES *	NO	NO	YES
With ST partner: kissing more important before sex than at other times	NO	YES *	NO	YES
With LT partner: kissing important at all times around sex	NO	NO	YES *	YES
Males find kissing more important before sex than during/after sex	NO	YES*	NO	NO
Women find kissing more important at times not related to sex than men	NO	NO	YES *	YES
Frequency of kissing predicts relationship satisfaction	NO	NO	YES *	YES
Number of correct predictions	8	2	7
Number of critical tests confirmed (no. available)	5 (6)	2 (5)	4 (5)

Note: Prediction which matched the observed result is underlined

^*Critical test that yielded a unique prediction in favor of one hypothesis only