Jealousy Incarnate: Quiet Ego, Competitive Desire, and the Fictional Intelligence of Long-Term Mating in a Romantic K-Drama

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze a K-drama aired by the Korean TV network SBS in 2016, Jealousy Incarnate, as a case study of the application of the Tie-Up Theory to a romantic narrative as a form of simulation of human mating processes with social cognition valence. We find that this case provides us with an example of a mating process where the choice of the male partner by the female lead character does not privilege the one that should be preferable on the basis of the standard prediction of the experimental research on human mating. This discrepancy is a signal of a basic limitation of experimental research, that highlights the subjects’ preferences for abstract potential partners but is not able to fully account for the mechanisms that lead to the choice of a specific partner in a specific mating interaction. We argue that the narrative simulation viewpoint provides insights that are complementary to those of experimental research, and that a more comprehensive theoretical approach, such as the one offered by the Tie-Up Theory, may be helpful to account for both perspectives.

Full text

behavioral
sciences
Article
Jealousy Incarnate: Quiet Ego, Competitive Desire,
and the Fictional Intelligence of Long-Term Mating
in a Romantic K-Drama
Lorenza Lucchi Basili 1and Pier Luigi Sacco 2,3,4,*
1Independent Researcher, via Nazareth 2, 35128 Padova, Italy; lorenza.lucchi.basili@gmail.com
2Department of Humanities, IULM University, via Carlo Bo, 1, 20143 Milan, Italy
3metaLAB (at) Harvard, 42 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
4Bruno Kessler Foundation, via Santa Croce 77, 30122 Trento, Italy
*Correspondence: pierluigi.sacco@iulm.it or pierluigi_sacco@fas.harvard.edu
Received: 29 July 2020; Accepted: 1 September 2020; Published: 3 September 2020


Abstract:
In this paper, we analyze a K-drama aired by the Korean TV network SBS in 2016,
Jealousy Incarnate, as a case study of the application of the Tie-Up Theory to a romantic narrative as
a form of simulation of human mating processes with social cognition valence. We find that this
case provides us with an example of a mating process where the choice of the male partner by the
female lead character does not privilege the one that should be preferable on the basis of the standard
prediction of the experimental research on human mating. This discrepancy is a signal of a basic
limitation of experimental research, that highlights the subjects’ preferences for abstract potential
partners but is not able to fully account for the mechanisms that lead to the choice of a specific
partner in a specific mating interaction. We argue that the narrative simulation viewpoint provides
insights that are complementary to those of experimental research, and that a more comprehensive
theoretical approach, such as the one offered by the Tie-Up Theory, may be helpful to account for
both perspectives.
Keywords:
Tie-Up Theory; Tie-Up Cycle; romantic K-dramas; social cognition; long-term
couple bonding
1. Introduction
How are long-term human couples formed, and why? This question, of fundamental importance
to understand a central aspect of human existence, is at the root of a remarkable research effort, also due
to the flourishing of experimental studies on human attitudes and behavior. Experimental research is
driven by the search for common dispositional or behavioral traits in the largest, most statistically
representative possible samples. As in many other fields of psychology and social science, also in the
study of human mating the experimental approach has yielded important results, which are valid and
robust even in an inter-cultural context [
1
]. Specifically, a significant sexual dimorphism has been found
as to the most desirable characteristics of a long-term partner in the heterosexual couple [
2
], with men
particularly emphasizing physical attractiveness and women especially caring for resourcefulness
(wealth, social status, etcetera) [3,4].
Despite their robustness and intuitive appeal, these results reflect key aspects of experimental
practice: Elicitation of preferences [
5
], search for hormonal signatures [
6
] in the abstract evaluation
of partner characteristics [
7
], or in the reactions shown by experimental subjects toward models
(generally, suitably chosen pictures or videos of human beings), be them real [
8
] or manipulated [
9
],
being presented either in a laboratory treatment or in situations of ‘artificial’ human interaction such
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Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 2 of 19
as speed dating sessions [
10
] or online meeting apps [
11
], or in hybrid contexts of observational
reaction to the speed dating choices of someone else [
12
]. However accurate and methodologically
rigorous, the experimental setting embeds subjects in an artificial choice context far from typical
real-life interactions with possible partners. Experimentation in real-life contexts would be obviously
unethical, and therefore the experimental setting is a viable second-best alternative for the analysis
of human mating choices. Yet, an especially critical aspect of experimental research is the request
to sample subjects to express their preferences for a generic partner, or for a specific partner in a
minimal socio-relational setting (two situations that already differ significantly as to the relevant
choice mechanisms [
13
]), whereas human romantic relations focus upon a specific partner in the
context of repeated interaction, i.e., on an individual with largely unique characteristics, linked to
the specific interaction history and evolution [
14
], possibly within a path of self-actualization and
self-discovery [
15
]—a complexity that is hard to elicit experimentally and even more to observe directly
in real-life situations. Consequently, whereas experimental research typically addresses questions
such as “what kind of partner would you be willing to mate with?”, the implicit question in real-life
interactions is rather “would you be willing to mate with this specific dating partner?”. These are
pretty different questions, both of which relevant for mechanisms that govern human mating processes,
and that need to be considered in their interdependence. Only looking at the ‘social’ aspects of
desirability standards or at the contextual aspects of real-life interactions, without accounting for their
reciprocal influence, may be misleading.
As to scientific methods that provide generalizable results, the only solid option seems therefore
that of working on large, representative samples to discover tendencies that apply to wider populations.
However, the question of how and why human couples are formed or broken has not only scientific,
but also social and economic interest, and human cultures have spontaneously developed what could
be considered a complementary approach to the experimental one, that does not focus on general laws
but on the interaction between, and on the choices of, specific (though imaginary) human subjects:
Fictional narratives [16].
Nothing seems to be less scientifically compelling than a fiction for the interpretation and
explanation of social facts. Not only ‘stories’ deal with a small (and thus statistically un-representative)
bunch of characters, but such characters are not even real but imagined. Not only the ‘experimental’
sample is small, it is also arbitrary as subjects have not been selected but literally made up, and then
shaped at will to let the story go wherever one likes—in an experimental setting, this would be outright
fraud. This is nothing but the antithesis of what a scientific experiment looks like.
However, this contraposition moves from a deep misunderstanding of the socio-cognitive valence
of fiction, which presents in fact significant analogies with scientific modeling [
17
]. Cognitive
psychology [
18
], humanistic psychology [
19
], and literary studies [
20
] are generating research programs
that take the adaptive value of fiction seriously. Such programs characterize fictional narratives as
sophisticated forms of social simulation that extend the experience base of individuals much beyond
its lived dimension [
21
], enhancing the capacity of adaptive response to unforeseen or unfamiliar
situations and circumstances [
22
], and providing a rationale for the intense, widely documented
human craving for fiction [
23
], whose strength and universality hints at the possibility of an epigenetic
drive [
24
]. If a fiction reaches a certain level of social validation, it assumes a super-factual valence,
acquiring a bigger evidential weight than that of facts themselves [
25
] and offering valuable insights into
the complexities and contradictions of human experience [
26
]. In this perspective, socially validated
romantic narratives, if charged with such super-factual valence, become of interest in our inquiry on
human mating [
27
], as they enable us to carry out ‘simulation’ analyses of whether a certain type of
interaction between two specific, properly chosen fictional subjects leads or not to a couple with certain
characteristics, instantiating that complementary viewpoint that remains inaccessible through the
experimental approach [
28
]. The key point then becomes the social validation mechanism that makes
certain fictions salient and noteworthy as sources of learning and reflection not only for researchers,
but for all humans. The fact that certain fictions are inter-generationally transmitted and often drawing

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 3 of 19
interest from audiences that are socio-culturally remote from the narrative’s native one, provides the
most direct and reliable observational correlative of this validation process [
29
]. Such validation is not
about accuracy of the narrative’s historical reconstruction nor about the plausibility of its situations
and events—not incidentally, we can have socially validated stories that refer to entirely implausible or
apparently imagined environments in physical, technological, or social-historical terms (as in science
fiction, fantasy, or fairy tales), and that nevertheless maintain their meaningfulness in time and space,
sometimes over the course of many generations [
30
]. What is being validated is the psychological
plausibility of the fictional characters, that need to be credible enough to elicit identification in the
audience, or grab attention and acquire widely acknowledged salience value (possibly a negative one;
e.g., [
31
]) and memorability, as confirmed by the inclusion of the fiction within a socially significant
narrative corpus [32].
Analyzing fictions as complementary knowledge sources to experimental data [
33
] yields different
insights than those of mainstream analyses. The mechanisms that govern the interaction with a
specific partner in a specific situation are not necessarily antithetical to those found in experimental
analysis, but highlight elements that failed to emerge otherwise, and that call for a more comprehensive
theoretical framework. An instance of such a framework is offered by the Tie-Up Theory [
28
,
34
,
35
],
a new approach to the analysis of human mating centered upon the interaction between specific subjects,
but also accounting for the social influences that reflect the general tendencies found in experimental
research. Such theory may generate claims that can be experimentally tested, as well as claims that
can be tested in the simulation lab of socially validated fictions. This latter line of research has been
developed so far with reference to some of the most popular Hollywood romantic comedies of the last
decades [
28
,
36
], and to the main romantic fairy tales [
37
]. Such preliminary research shows that the
reasons that move a subject to choose a specific partner among many may also be independent of, and
sometimes in contrast with, the characteristics attached to an ‘ideal’ partner via the abstract preferences
possibly expressed by that same subject in an experimental setting, by evaluating pictures of human
subjects or hypothetical situations, or being exposed to artificial and minimal forms of relationality.
The romantic fictions that have drawn the most attention and become memorable, owe this
salience to their insightfulness into situations or topics of particular interest and complexity, providing
adaptively valuable information despite their fictional nature and the reference to specific and possibly
implausible situations. Fictional repertoires may be a treasure trove of refined wisdom on a wide
range of mating-related issues, including paradoxical or particularly complicated ones. Fictions can
then be considered a sort of ‘social calculus’ condensed into a story, often crystallized through the
layering of variants and additions—a calculus that through suitable analytical tools reveals explicitly
the informational content that in its normal functioning mode is absorbed and transmitted through the
subtle mechanisms of social cognition [38].
In this paper, we analyze, through the framework of the Tie-Up Theory, a relatively uncommon
case: That of the abundance in the choice of desirable potential partners. If generally finding a desirable
partner is difficult also due to intense sexual competition, what happens when competition is between
choice options instead? Specifically, we address the following question: Can a woman love two men at
once? The answer to this question is more nuanced than one could think, and through a suitably chosen
narrative ‘simulation’ we will see how the outcome of this mating dilemma may lead the woman to
choose the potential partner who would be likely turned down according to the abstract criteria that
emerge from the experimental literature. The chosen fiction belongs to an especially interesting corpus:
That of K-dramas, the South-Korean TV mini-series that have now become a global cultural trend [
39
],
attracting and engaging audiences worldwide [
40
]. Romantic K-dramas are very popular and widely
followed both on TV and on online streaming platforms [
41
]. Their abundant production obviously
greatly varies in quality and audience appreciation, but the most popular series, also thanks to the
impressive global public they manage to reach, are exposed to very selective and rapid inter-cultural
social validation tests [
42
]. In this paper, we consider a successful 2016 series that offers an interesting
answer to the question posed above. Rather than covering the entire narrative arc of the drama, we

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 4 of 19
focus upon a particular scene that provides us with a meaningful answer to our question, and casts
light on the interaction between the relatively more subjective vs. social factors in determining the
choice of the partner in the context of Tie-Up Theory. Our result cannot be taken of course as a general
answer to the question but rather, being a simulation analysis, as an explanation of how and why,
in certain circumstances, a person’s actual choice of the romantic partner may be so different from
the one expected from the theoretical predictions in terms of abstract desirability and adaptive value
within the bio-socio-evolutionary economy of the couple.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2contains a short synthesis of the
key concepts of Tie-Up Theory. Section 3considers K-dramas as a research area of special interest for
romantic fictions and introduces the case study, whose analysis is presented in Section 4. Section 5
offers a short final discussion.
2. Methods I. Tie-Up Theory: Basic Concepts
In this section, we present, in a necessarily compact, schematic form, some of the key concepts of
Tie-Up Theory. For a more complete presentation see [28,34,35].
The Tie-Up Theory postulates that the human mating process is regulated by the interaction
of two areas, the Active Area (AA) and the Receptive Area (RA) for each male (M) and female (F)
subject. AAs function at the conscious level and are sensitive to social influence factors, whereas
RAs typically function at the sub-conscious level and their activation is linked to the outcome of
a specific Compatibility Test on the opposite-sex subject. Areas have a sexually dimorphic nature:
The female AA (F-AA) responds to the psycho-emotional dimension, whereas her RA (F-RA) responds
to the sexual dimension; for males, vice versa, M-AA responds to the sexual dimension and M-RA
to the psycho-emotional one. Consequently, the Compatibility Test carried out by F-RA checks
for the biological compatibility of the male subject, while the test carried out by M-RA checks for
psycho-emotional compatibility of the female subject. Insofar as the opposite-sex subject passes the
respective Compatibility Test, the involved RA turns on and prompts the subject to interact with the
tested opposite-sex subject in view of a possible mating. Such interaction is structured according
to a typical sequence known as Tie-Up Cycle (TU-C), that is the sequential stimulation of the AAs
and RAs of the two subjects following a characteristic order. The TU-C may move from any position
provided that order is respected: For instance, starting from a subject’s RA, the TU-C moves toward
the same subject’s AA, which in turn stimulates the opposite-sex subject’s RA, further proceeding
toward the respective AA, which will in turn stimulate again the first subject’s RA, closing the circle
and paving the way to new iterations. The stimulation of the Areas produces specific rewards, that we
call direct if generated by AAs and indirect if coming from RAs. When the sequence of interactions
proceeds according to the foreseen order, the TU-C moves anti-clockwise. In some cases, the direction
of movement may undergo a partial inversion due to frustrations enforced by one partner over the
other [
34
]. The TU-C may be divided into hemicycles on the basis of two different criteria: The male
(including M-AA and M-RA) vs. female (including F-AA and F-RA) hemicycle, and the sexual
(including M-AA and F-RA) vs. psycho-emotional (including M-RA and F-AA) hemicycle (Figure 1).
The (sexual or psycho-emotional) orientation of the respective Areas reflects specific evolutionary
incentives that enable a couple with a functioning TU-C to stabilize into a cooperative interaction
aimed at strengthening the couple bond and allowing the joint rearing of the offspring [35].
If the interaction between M and F leads for both to the production of the suitable direct and
indirect rewards, the TU-C starts. The respective RAs of one or both subjects may have already carried
out their Compatibility Tests or not, but even if this has not occurred yet, as the TU-C (and thus the
interaction) unfolds, the test will end up being carried out. If a subject passes the Compatibility Test,
the opposite-sex subject’s RA turns on, starting to produce indirect rewards. If and when such indirect
rewards reach an intense enough peak, a Tie-Up (TU) will be created with the subject who passed the
test. The TU may be one-sided if occurring only in the female (F-TU) or male (M-TU) subject, or it may
be double and thus reciprocal (D-TU). A couple may be formed for various reasons also in the absence

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 5 of 19
of a D-TU, and vice versa the emergence of a D-TU does not guarantee that the couple will be formed,
but if the D-TU is created, the couple is formed, and the TU-C is successfully iterated, the resulting
couple will be characterized by remarkable stability and resilience features.
Behav. Sci. 2020, 10, x 5 of 19
(a) (b)
Figure 1. Tie-Up Cycle (TU-C) diagram and its possible partitions into hemicycles: (a) According to
sex (male vs. female); (b) according to dimension (psycho-emotional vs. sexual). Red denotes Active
Areas (AAs) and their provision of direct rewards, blue denotes Receptive Areas (Ras) and their
provision of indirect rewards. The arrows show the natural direction of the cycle.
If the interaction between M and F leads for both to the production of the suitable direct and
indirect rewards, the TU-C starts. The respective RAs of one or both subjects may have already
carried out their Compatibility Tests or not, but even if this has not occurred yet, as the TU-C (and
thus the interaction) unfolds, the test will end up being carried out. If a subject passes the
Compatibility Test, the opposite-sex subject’s RA turns on, starting to produce indirect rewards. If
and when such indirect rewards reach an intense enough peak, a Tie-Up (TU) will be created with
the subject who passed the test. The TU may be one-sided if occurring only in the female (F-TU) or
male (M-TU) subject, or it may be double and thus reciprocal (D-TU). A couple may be formed for
various reasons also in the absence of a D-TU, and vice versa the emergence of a D-TU does not
guarantee that the couple will be formed, but if the D-TU is created, the couple is formed, and the
TU-C is successfully iterated, the resulting couple will be characterized by remarkable stability and
resilience features.
The TU essentially depends upon the activation of RAs, but the role of AAs is equally crucial, in
that the action of the latter may amplify or oppose the signals coming from the RAs. Specifically,
being M-RA psycho-emotionally oriented, it follows that M-TU calls for a test of psycho-emotional
compatibility, whereas being F-RA sexually oriented, F-TU requires that bio-sexual compatibility is
tested. Vice versa, men are especially sensitive to social signals in the sexual sphere (given the
orientation of the M-AA) while women are sensitive to social signals in the psycho-emotional sphere
(due to the orientation of the F-AA). The ample experimental evidence showing that men pay special
attention to the female partner’s physical aspect whereas women focus upon the social
resourcefulness of the male partner then reflects the orientation of the respective AAs, and not of
their RAs, and the reason why such orientations emerge so powerfully from experimental elicitations
is that they address the conscious level of experimental subjects, that is their AAs. On the other hand,
the (direct) sexual reward for men and the (direct) psycho-emotional reward for women, however
pleasant and actively sought, are never enough by themselves to guarantee the TU, and may even
end up precluding it, if not accompanied by the respective indirect rewards, with their different
nature in each sex. Despite the declared preferences, therefore, a man will not tie-up to a female
subject if he will not find a psycho-emotional compatibility, and a woman will not tie-up to a male
subject if she will not find a bio-sexual compatibility. Of course, a couple may form also in the absence
of TUs if driven by opportunistic or manipulative motives or if abiding by certain social norms (such
as those regulating convenience marriages in some societies).
Figure 1.
Tie-Up Cycle (TU-C) diagram and its possible partitions into hemicycles: (
a
) According to sex
(male vs. female); (
b
) according to dimension (psycho-emotional vs. sexual). Red denotes Active Areas
(AAs) and their provision of direct rewards, blue denotes Receptive Areas (Ras) and their provision of
indirect rewards. The arrows show the natural direction of the cycle.
The TU essentially depends upon the activation of RAs, but the role of AAs is equally crucial,
in that the action of the latter may amplify or oppose the signals coming from the RAs. Specifically,
being M-RA psycho-emotionally oriented, it follows that M-TU calls for a test of psycho-emotional
compatibility, whereas being F-RA sexually oriented, F-TU requires that bio-sexual compatibility
is tested. Vice versa, men are especially sensitive to social signals in the sexual sphere (given the
orientation of the M-AA) while women are sensitive to social signals in the psycho-emotional sphere
(due to the orientation of the F-AA). The ample experimental evidence showing that men pay special
attention to the female partner’s physical aspect whereas women focus upon the social resourcefulness
of the male partner then reflects the orientation of the respective AAs, and not of their RAs, and the
reason why such orientations emerge so powerfully from experimental elicitations is that they address
the conscious level of experimental subjects, that is their AAs. On the other hand, the (direct) sexual
reward for men and the (direct) psycho-emotional reward for women, however pleasant and actively
sought, are never enough by themselves to guarantee the TU, and may even end up precluding it,
if not accompanied by the respective indirect rewards, with their different nature in each sex. Despite
the declared preferences, therefore, a man will not tie-up to a female subject if he will not find a
psycho-emotional compatibility, and a woman will not tie-up to a male subject if she will not find
a bio-sexual compatibility. Of course, a couple may form also in the absence of TUs if driven by
opportunistic or manipulative motives or if abiding by certain social norms (such as those regulating
convenience marriages in some societies).
Not only the RAs, but also the AAs carry out their tests on opposite-sex partners, which however
refer to social appropriateness criteria and are not sexually dimorphic (Figure 2). Such tests, called Filter
Tests, may vary according to the socio-cultural context of reference. Some of the main Filter Tests are
shown in Figure 3. When the outcome of Filter and Compatibility Tests is concordant, all the incentives
work toward the consolidation or the disruption of the couple (depending on whether the outcomes
concordance is positive or negative). However, when outcomes are discordant, such discordance
brings about inner conflicts in the subjects, which in turn cause conflict between the subjects, and even
possibly synergize with operating social conditionings. The successful or failed formation of the couple

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 6 of 19
thus depends on the extent to which the interaction between the subjects will create the conditions
for the resolution or mitigation of the conflicts, or rather will make them deflagrate. Depending on
the configuration of the outcomes of the Compatibility and Filter Tests, different types of couples
may emerge, most of which are not characterized by a D-TU, and whose stability, even temporary,
may depend on the action of a multitude of factors, as described by the Mating Stability Matrix [35].
Behav. Sci. 2020, 10, x 6 of 19
Not only the RAs, but also the AAs carry out their tests on opposite-sex partners, which however
refer to social appropriateness criteria and are not sexually dimorphic (Figure 2). Such tests, called
Filter Tests, may vary according to the socio-cultural context of reference. Some of the main Filter
Tests are shown in Figure 3. When the outcome of Filter and Compatibility Tests is concordant, all
the incentives work toward the consolidation or the disruption of the couple (depending on whether
the outcomes concordance is positive or negative). However, when outcomes are discordant, such
discordance brings about inner conflicts in the subjects, which in turn cause conflict between the
subjects, and even possibly synergize with operating social conditionings. The successful or failed
formation of the couple thus depends on the extent to which the interaction between the subjects will
create the conditions for the resolution or mitigation of the conflicts, or rather will make them
deflagrate. Depending on the configuration of the outcomes of the Compatibility and Filter Tests,
different types of couples may emerge, most of which are not characterized by a D-TU, and whose
stability, even temporary, may depend on the action of a multitude of factors, as described by the
Mating Stability Matrix [35].
Figure 2. Tests carried out by the AAs and RAs on potential opposite-sex partners. Active Areas are
in red, Receptive Areas in blue.
Figure 3. Different categories of Filter Tests.
Figure 2.
Tests carried out by the AAs and RAs on potential opposite-sex partners. Active Areas are in
red, Receptive Areas in blue.
Behav. Sci. 2020, 10, x 6 of 19
Not only the RAs, but also the AAs carry out their tests on opposite-sex partners, which however
refer to social appropriateness criteria and are not sexually dimorphic (Figure 2). Such tests, called
Filter Tests, may vary according to the socio-cultural context of reference. Some of the main Filter
Tests are shown in Figure 3. When the outcome of Filter and Compatibility Tests is concordant, all
the incentives work toward the consolidation or the disruption of the couple (depending on whether
the outcomes concordance is positive or negative). However, when outcomes are discordant, such
discordance brings about inner conflicts in the subjects, which in turn cause conflict between the
subjects, and even possibly synergize with operating social conditionings. The successful or failed
formation of the couple thus depends on the extent to which the interaction between the subjects will
create the conditions for the resolution or mitigation of the conflicts, or rather will make them
deflagrate. Depending on the configuration of the outcomes of the Compatibility and Filter Tests,
different types of couples may emerge, most of which are not characterized by a D-TU, and whose
stability, even temporary, may depend on the action of a multitude of factors, as described by the
Mating Stability Matrix [35].
Figure 2. Tests carried out by the AAs and RAs on potential opposite-sex partners. Active Areas are
in red, Receptive Areas in blue.
Figure 3. Different categories of Filter Tests.
Figure 3. Different categories of Filter Tests.
3. Methods II. Romantic K-Dramas: A Promising Research Field for the Narrative Analysis of
Human Mating
South Korea stands out as an emerging country in the global geography of creative production of
the last two decades, a phenomenon known as Hallyu (literally: Korean wave [
43
]). Although Hallyu
covers diverse sectors such as music, cinema, food and fashion [
44
], TV series (K-dramas) are especially

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 7 of 19
important as they have attracted a global audience [
45
], and sparked an unprecedented interest
toward Korean culture, and toward Seoul as a global cultural city and destination [
46
]. Romantic
K-dramas, more specifically, deserve attention as products of a culture that, despite having been
historically marked by extreme gender inequality [
47
], is now developing new narratives driven by
new, vocal female agency [
48
], also thanks to the country’s high level of digital literacy that turns
online platforms into spaces of co-creation where TV producers can acquire detailed feedback from
viewers to take advantage of in future projects. Moreover, as most K-dramas are shot while the series is
being broadcast (the so-called live-shoot system) [
49
], it becomes possible to use the feedback received
on the early episodes to directly edit the screenwriting of the later ones on-the-go [
50
]. In addition
to audience ratings, the K-dramas industry also considers involvement of audiences as to number of
published articles, volume of online searches, intensity of engagement on discussion boards, and so on
(the so-called Contents Power Index, CPI). This co-creation process has brought about a change in the
themes and contents of romantic K-dramas which, responding to the indications and expectations of
their (not only) young female public, explore the subtleties of romantic relationships also as a form of
emancipation from the social constraints of traditional Asian cultures, such as arranged marriages [
51
],
and are winning an increasingly intercultural audience, both in the Far East [52] and globally [53].
What makes K-dramas so interesting as social simulations of the dynamics of mating is the
transitional state of Korean society with respect to so many highly relevant aspects of mating interactions,
such as gender discrimination vs. equality [
54
], family control vs. personal autonomy [
55
], customary
roles vs. intimacy in romantic relationships [
56
], and so on. This state of flux leads to a complex
interplay between the declining (but still relevant) influence of parental, family, and social conditionings
(on issues such as reproductive rights [
57
] or marriage decisions [
58
]), and the increasing but often
unfulfilled drive toward search for authenticity and self-realization in mating choices (significantly,
in the crucial socio-cultural transitional phase of the early 2000s South Korea was characterized
by a particularly high relative frequency of divorce as compared to other Asian countries [
59
]).
In turn, this very socially relevant tension is extensively documented in K-drama productions and,
in their best examples, especially in the last 15 years, reflects into screenplays that offer an insightful,
analytically detailed exploration of the dynamics of couple formation, and of their complications and
contradictions [
60
]. Such features respond to K-drama audiences’ demands for cognitive insights and
socio-behavioral guidelines to navigate the still relatively uncharted territory of autonomic styles of
romantic relationships in societies with a strong traditionalist and patriarchal imprint [61].
This social cognition valence also partly explains the extraordinary success of K-dramas in
geo-cultural environments out of South Korea, which are experiencing similar although often less
mature social transitions, such as many South-East Asian [
62
], Muslim [
63
], or South American [
64
]
countries—a success that cannot be merely explained in terms of the lure of romantic daydreaming
for young female audiences [
65
]. Such a reductive, simplistic explanation stems from an erroneous
maintained equivalence between K-dramas and soap-operas [
66
]. In soap operas, the intelligence of
romantic relationships is typically entirely sacrificed to keep audiences engaged along an over-inflated,
repetitive narrative going on for hundreds of episodes. In soap operas there is little concern for
the psychological plausibility of the characters, or for the logical consequentiality of the narratives.
The poor social cognition content of these narratives possibly leads viewers to develop dysfunctional
beliefs and expectations about romantic relationships [
67
]. K-dramas generally are, to the contrary,
mini-series of 16–24 one-hour episodes where, again in best examples, the narrative arc strives
for compactness, plausibility, and coherence, and is carefully scrutinized and discussed in depth
by fans [
68
]. K-dramas are an important, bi-directional global platform for cultural exchange and
innovation and for social critique [
69
], whose audience contains well-educated, media-savvy, digitally
sophisticated fandom circles [
70
]—a far cry from the typical content spectra and audience targets of
soap operas (which exist in the current landscape of Korean TV production as well). Also in view of
the relative sophistication of their audiences, generally high-quality romantic K-dramas obtain good

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 8 of 19
viewer ratings and CPIs, although a romantic K-drama may be, at least in the short-term, successful
and engaging also irrespectively of its social cognition content.
In the perspective of the Tie-Up Theory, K-dramas offer a rich repertoire (among many possible
others) of narrative simulations of the variety of tied-up vs. opportunistic and dysfunctional couples
that may emerge from romantic interactions under different circumstances, for instance by focusing on
the role of aspirational parents and social expectations in framing marriage as a strategic assortative
mating, typically on an educational and/or income basis [
71
,
72
]. As discussed above, Active Areas are
sensitive to social pressures, so that parental, family, and reference group conditionings often reflect
into the nature and outcomes of the main Filter Tests to be carried out. However, the main characters
of K-dramas often fight or turn upside down the logic of more socially imposing Filter Tests, in their
pursuit of their own path of personal autonomy and romantic authenticity, whereas, tellingly, such logic
tends to be embraced by the antagonists seeking opportunistic forms of mating. In this sense, K-dramas
offer a particularly valuable simulation analysis of mating interactions for all those socio-cultural
contexts where the locally salient Filter Tests reflect social forces and constraints that are close enough,
also by way of cultural analogies, to those of the Korean society of today [
73
]. However, RAs are shaped
by deeper, very-long-term processes of biobehavioral programming, and their reactions tend to be less
culture-specific and more universal. Therefore, K-dramas provide valuable insights in regard to the
conditions for the emergence and stability of TUs in the context of romantic relationships also to cultures
whose mating-related social conditionings and issues are of different nature. For all these reasons,
K-dramas offer a particularly interesting knowledge base for research on narrative simulations of
mating processes, and deserve to be further dug up in this vein from multiple disciplinary perspectives,
such as communication and media studies, sociology of culture, and social and personality psychology.
It is this peculiar cultural dynamism that makes romantic K-dramas so intriguing, at least in
their most significant, socially validated expressions. Here, we consider an interesting case study:
The K-drama Jealousy Incarnate, aired in 2016 by the Korean national network SBS with a very good
audience response, as testified by the high ratings in a difficult broadcasting slot such as the Wed–Thu
10 PM one, winning five SBS drama awards for categories closely related to the characters’ popularity:
Top Excellence Actress for the female lead, Top 10 Stars Award and Top Excellence Actor for the male
lead, and New Star Awards and Special Actress for the two co-leads (the male and female antagonists,
respectively; source: koreandrama.org).
As we will see, this K-drama is a representative example of a romantic fiction with a high
mating-related social cognition valence, tackling a complex issue such as the female choice between two
potential male partners who both passed the Bio-sexual Compatibility Test, and characterizing with
precision and consistency the interaction between the functioning of the Compatibility and Filter Tests,
yielding an outcome that contradicts the likely prediction supported by the experimental literature.
The interest of Jealousy incarnate does not stem from dealing with issues of social conditioning or
parental manipulation, but is rather due to its focus on the fine-grained relational dynamic between
the characters’ RAs and AAs, and represents therefore a case study whose ‘universal’ implications
prevail upon culturally specific ones. The story’s resolution crucially revolves around a Filter Test,
which is not culturally specific but signals the partner’s successful tying-up to the point of self-sacrifice,
opposing and overcoming the results of all other Filter Tests. which would have let the antagonist
prevail. This specific narrative simulation does not of course falsify the implications of the experimental
literature, but illustrates how the interaction between AAs and RAs and the respective tests may lead to
different outcomes from the ones expected on the basis of the ‘commonsense of human mating’—thus
attaching to these apparently ‘anomalous’ cases a high informational value.

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 9 of 19
4. Results. Jealousy Incarnate: Can a Woman Love Two Men at Once?
4.1. The Narrative Context
The Female Lead (FL) of the story is a girl full of goodwill but with meager expectations of
success, both professionally and sentimentally. Her lifetime dream is to become a news anchor, and
she even managed to be hired by one of the main Korean TV networks, but only as the weather report
girl, sent on air at the end of the news, for about 60 s daily. Pay is low and not enough to cover the
financial needs of her younger student brother, but she does not get disheartened easily and takes extra
gigs whenever available, striving for the acceptance and sympathy of others in a highly hierarchical,
competitive job environment.
She does not look sophisticated but rather simple and genuine, she does not wear designer clothes,
but however her style speaks of self-care and personality, turning even cheap and sometimes unlikely
outfits into good looks. On the romantic side she has clear ideas, and at work she readily singles
out the man she likes, the network’s main anchorman, the Male Lead (ML) of the drama. FL thus
features a strange mix of ambition and humility. Her aspirations seem to aim high, without however
bothering about her real chances. At the same time, she willingly accepts her subordinate position,
accommodates the situation, and does her best even when her availability is exploited by superiors and
fails to be appreciated by colleagues. To the external eye, FL’s naïve candor seems out of place, and her
intentions opaque, so that she is easily blamed as shallow and clueless, or to the contrary as malicious
and calculating. In fact, she tenaciously follows a personal code of conduct within her own value
system and interests, mostly unconcerned with what others may think or insinuate. Unsurprisingly,
her romantic life seems equally miserable: ML does not even notice her, and when everybody laughs
at her, ridiculing her for that persistent infatuation, so apparent and absurd, he considers her little
more than an annoying insect to chase away.
K-drama stories often deal with processes of personal change, and in this story the change is
sparked by the friendship that connects ML to the Male Antagonist (MA), who from the first time he
meets FL promptly realizes all her charm and remarkable potential, instantly reframing her personal
qualities commonly seen as flaws as unique gifts, especially precious in an environment of ruthless,
competitive careerists. MA is the first who gets tied-up, and the interest he shows for FL makes her
suddenly visible to ML, who becomes jealous of FL’s attentions and competitive toward his richer,
more handsome and masculine friend.
In fact, ML has already been in crisis for a while and things seem to turn from bad to worse.
After having lost popularity due to a job scandal and having been downgraded from main anchor
to foreign correspondent from Thailand for three years, once he eventually comes back to Seoul,
he discovers he has cancer, requiring surgery and radiotherapy. The humiliation, adding up to the
shock of his possible death, comes from the fact that his cancer is a typically feminine one, a nipple
tumor which could bring him back into the gossip, definitely destroying his career as a public figure,
in addition to his manly image and his attractiveness for women. FL is familiar with this illness, which
already killed her granny first and then her mother. Destiny rules that she has to get surgery for a
suspect mammal cyst the very same day ML has his own surgery, and that they end up sharing the
same hospital room, as well as the secret on ML’s illness. FL takes care of ML, protects him from the
scandal, altruistically supports him, and in so doing she finally manages to digest her own ruinous,
unrequited love for ML, which lasted so long and, by acknowledging this, to bring it to a close for good.
However, ML’s attitude toward FL changes. He is upset that she does not seem so intrigued by
him like she once was, ruminating over the dilemma that she’s just pretending and masquerading
her interest toward him behind an emotional concern for his pitiful condition, or that instead such
condition has caused him to lose his sexual attractiveness to her. Moreover, MA has started a tight
courtship on FL, and ML has become aware of his weaker position against the rival, who is moreover
his only and dearest friend. However, it would be a mistake to think that ML is eventually interested
in FL just because of manly pride and rivalry. In fact, the longtime sympathy between the two friends

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 10 of 19
allows ML to realize what MA sees in FL, and to desire it in turn. FL is passionate and sincere, generous
and daring, affectionate and capable to love selflessly. Moreover, despite her fragility, she is tenacious,
strong and hard to discourage. Now that a handsome, fascinating, wealthy, gentle young man is in
love with her and courting her, she does not forget to help ML, supporting him without expecting
anything back, despite being in difficulty herself, out of sheer empathy.
ML feels his life is on the brink of collapse, and she is the only one to reach out to him, whereas
turning her back on him would have been more logical instead. The most cherished things in his
life—friendship, love, health, career, family ties—have become mutually conflicting, excluding one
another, and excluding himself in turn. Now that even his brother has died before they could sort
out their misunderstandings, now that his illness has been diagnosed and the fight to survive it has
started, ML feels that he has no choice but to reckon with his failure and to save what can be saved
of his life, family, friendship, and, not last, love, even if this implies that it will be now him, and no
longer FL, to experience a one-sided love, a unilateral TU. ML ties-up and consequently FL witnesses
an abrupt change in her position, now finding herself in a love triangle with two men, once out of
reach, who now compete for her, and moreover she faces the unbelievable opportunity to participate
in an audition for new anchors, which would allow her to get promoted and fulfil her dream.
4.2. The Scene of the Kiss
What is interesting at this point is understanding who FL will choose between MA and ML,
and why. In this regard, we analyze a single scene in the drama, the one where FL is kissed for the
third time. FL has already kissed both, but this third kiss deliberately sanctions FL’s definitive TU
to ML, consequently excluding MA from the possibility of getting FL’s F-TU instead. This scene is
fundamental as it clearly shows the role and the relative weight of the different female tests (Filter
Tests and Bio-sexual Compatibility Test), and which one among the two proves to be crucial in terms of
the TU.
The scene takes place in the late afternoon, within a hospital branch that has become empty at
that late hour, offering ML the possibility to go through the last radiotherapy evening session, before
the department closes, thus guaranteeing him some privacy. FL has accompanied him, and waits for
him out of the locker room as he is undressing to wear his gown. FL gets a message on her phone; it is
MA. They have started dating and FL seems to have accepted his courtship. That same morning, the
young woman went through the audition that, if successfully passed, would allow her to become a
news anchorwoman as well. MA writes: “Don’t you have something to say to me? I want to hear all news
first, whether it’s good news or bad. You need to lean on me first, okay?” What MA is asking for is exclusivity,
that is, being the first in FL’s heart and thoughts.
FL reflects as she re-evokes the words ML said to her: “Don’t be swayed
. . .
by me. Don’t be swayed.”
At this point, she stands up and steps toward the closed locker room door, saying to ML inside: “I will
. . .
never let you sway me.” And him, with a resigned voice: “Okay”. She goes on: “I will never like you
again.” And him, sighing: “Okay”. However, FL insists, asking herself and asking him: “Am I crazy?”,
as he tries to curb this dangerous attitude of hers, asking her to stop: “That’s enough”, he says to her.
The intuition is right: FL enters the locker room, pushing aside the curtain that separates ML from the
vestibule and showing him a drawing he knows well, as he kept it in his room as the only proof of his
secret love for her. FL tells him: “Even if you draw me 1000 of these 100 days, I won’t look back” (that is,
‘I will not turn back and love you again’). “You must think I’d fall for you if you sweet-talked me”, she
goes on saying while tearing the paper into pieces and dropping them on the ground, “But I won’t”.
It’s a challenge! She is provoking him and he replies once more: “Okay, so go.” He has no intention to
accept that challenge, thus he pushes her beyond the curtain and shuts it right after, turning his back,
but she opens the curtain again and moves toward him, going on: “You know what a great guy your
friend is, right? I like him more. I like Jung Won more than he likes me”. In fact Jung Won, AM, is deeply in
love with her, but what FL actually means is that he is much worthier to her than she, with all her

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 11 of 19
limitations, could possibly be worth to him. We are entering the field of Filter Tests that measure a
partner’s salience, as proven by the row of AM’s virtues that FL is about to list:
“He is much more well-mannered than you. He’s warmer, nicer, more considerate, better looking,
wealthier, nicer to me, has a nicer voice, gentler, doesn’t pretend and is honest. He works hard, is
comforting, manly and successful. He isn’t fickle or yap. He looks good when he opens his mouth
and when he closes it. He has a broad chest and they [the nipples] aren’t lopsided. He’s warm and
comforting, and makes me want to hug him. The opposite. The exact opposite is you. You know
that, right?”
ML’s Olympic calm starts to ripple as, hitting the locker with the back of his head, he replies: “Yes.
You’re right. Okay? Did you barge in here to say that?”, and nodding in a small voice, his eyes fixed on her
lips: “Get out.” He grabs her, but she resists, saying: “I got you disqualified from the anchor audition”. Once
more he pushes her beyond the curtain: “Get out”. The curtain is shut again by him, and reopened
again by her. FL is once more inside that cramped space, she has trespassed again the boundary of
intimacy symbolized by the curtain, saying: “I’m an evil witch”.
MA has successfully passed all the key Filter Tests that exist: The one on personality and
intelligence (“He is much more well-mannered than you. He’s warmer, nicer, more considerate
. . .
nice to me
. . .
gentler, doesn’t pretend and is honest. He works hard, is comforting
. . .
He isn’t fickle or yap”), the one on
wealth and status (“[He is] wealthier
. . .
and successful”), on physical aspect (“[He is] better looking
. . .
manly
. . .
He looks good when he opens his mouth and when he closes it. He has a broad chest and they [the
nipples] aren’t lopsided”), a reference to ML’s surgery that affected his chest and nipple to take the tumor
away, whereas MA has a healthy body. There is even the test on conformity (“I got you disqualified . . .
”). The term ‘warm’ is repeated a second time, but whereas the first time it points at personality, now
the reference goes to the physical contact that she means as ‘comfortable’ (“makes me want to hug him”).
In this latter case, it is not about a Filter Test, but hints at the good physical feel, as she seems to imply
that the Bio-sexual Compatibility Test might have been successful, and certainly completed with the
kiss that has kicked offtheir dating. This is a curious situation. ML, unlike MA, has clearly failed FL’s
Filter Tests but has surely passed the Bio-sexual Compatibility Test, otherwise she would not be now in
the men’s locker room alone with him, but most likely his rival as well has successfully passed the
same, fundamental test for FL’s F-RA. FL is possibly not fully aware of what she’s doing, but she is
actually suggesting ML the right timing that will allow him to beat his friend, not as to the overall
result of the tests, but in terms of picking the right moment. What FL’s accusing words conceal is a
suggestion about timeliness: If now he will kiss her, she will tie-up and he will have won her heart.
To be fair, it is not true that ML has failed all of the Filter Tests, and FL is aware of that
even if ML does not realize it. She has been silent on this point, to give more momentum to her
provocation. The Filter Test that ML has successfully passed is certainly the most important in view
of the characteristics of FL’s F-AA: The Test of Moral Responsibility. ML has done the only thing he
could have made at that point of the story to save what could be saved and give at least a meaning, an
acknowledgement and a sense of direction to his feelings. He has sacrificed himself for her, giving up
to the only possibility he had to take back control of his anchorman career, and thereby guaranteeing
FL a place in the audition for future anchors. Among all Filter Tests, the Test on Moral Responsibility is
the only one that depends on the TU and confirms its existence, and in this case the existence of the
M-TU, in that only a strong, deep TU in a valuable individual leads to the altruism that makes such a
big sacrifice possible, against one’s personal interest and dreams, to the only benefit of the loved one.
FL has not only realized how hard ML’s sacrifice has been, but through it she got the certainty of the
existence of ML’s M-TU. The fact that ML’s gesture has been concealed rather than exhibited proves its
sincerity: Showing offthe sacrifice would have been to the contrary a form of manipulation, possibly
exerted by a non-tied-up subject willing to prevail upon his rival. ML’s capricious, odd behaviors did
not imply then a simulation of a TU, fueled by the competitive jealousy that always linked him to his
friend, as in a game of undisclosed rivalry that makes a counterpoint to their reciprocal affection and

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 12 of 19
respect. ML is as tied-up as MA, has passed the Bio-sexual Compatibility Test as MA did, but unlike
MA has given himself away for her despite his conviction that she was lost. This is the element that
changes his position in FL’s heart, the reason why she suggests the right timing to him and lets him
kiss her—a further confirmation that the F-TU originates in the sexual hemicycle as a consequence
of an intense stimulation of the F-RA, despite being conditioned by the approval of the F-AA in the
psycho-emotional hemicycle as a result of the success of at least a single, relevant Filter Test.
When FL claims to be an evil witch, she presents herself as the typical fairy tale character that
breaks the rules and makes use of sorcery for suspicious reasons, that is, she is saying she will not
be fair to her boyfriend and will give ML the chance to be equally evil. At this point, ML starts to
realize and warns her: “It’ll be dangerous if you stay”. She then offers a clue, hinting at the result of the
audition, that justifies her behavior and provides him with the entitlement he has gained by sacrificing
himself for her: “I passed. I wanted to tell you first”—an entitlement she is meanwhile denying to MA.
ML is close, staring at her lips and insists: “I warned you that it’s dangerous”, but FL keeps on insisting
in turn—another little push—and repeats: “Jung Won is a great guy. He’s a good man”. Then him: “I
agree”, and her: “You are
. . .
a bad person”. He makes another step toward her, he is really close now,
and repeats: “I agree”. She insists: “You are
. . .
a bad man”, and him again: “I agree”. FL stands still,
not escaping physical closeness: “You are a bad friend”. Now the invitation is really explicit and ML
takes the initiative: he says “I agree with that, too” and finally starts to kiss her.
4.3. Reading Behind the Lines: Decoding the ‘Strategic’ Communication Between Partners Through the
Tie-Up Theory
As a further support to the interpretive reading of the scene of the F-TU just analyzed, we now
consider a dialogue between the two main characters that takes place during the subsequent narrative
unfolding, and that offers a real ‘signature’ of the interaction dynamics between the respective AAs
and RAs and the action of the corresponding tests, as ML strives to guess which one between him and
MA has managed to prevail in FL’s RA. This dialogue allows us to appreciate in finer detail how the
Tie-Up Theory allows us to decode the communicative exchange of the partners in its ‘strategic’ role
for the purpose of the formation of a long-term couple.
PM: “Do you really like Jung Won and me exactly the same?”
PF:
“My gosh! When I said I had a crush on you four years ago, how nice would it have been if you
had liked me back?” [in Tie-Up Theory’s terms, she means that it would have been good to
start a TU-C with him].
PF:
“I liked you so much for three years. Back then, you never once looked at me. You never said
a kind word to me.” [and this could have been the reason why, despite ML had passed the
Bio-sexual Compatibility Test back then, FL did not tie-up].
PF: “Why are you saying you like me now and making my head explode?”
ML does not answer.
PF:
“It’s nicer to receive love than to give it” [it is not nice to be in a one-sided TU because you
don’t get any rewards].
PF:
“Life was less hard with someone who liked me” [being in a TU-C with Jung Won, FL would
receive her shots of direct and indirect rewards].
PF:
“I was so attracted to Jung Won.” [Literally, MA has successfully passed the Bio-sexual
Compatibility Test just like ML].
PF:
“Why did you have to do this to me now?” [Because FL, remaining in the TU-C with MA,
would have ended up tying-up to MA, and for ML there would have been no more chance to
start his own TU-C with her].

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 13 of 19
PM: “Do you like Jung Won more?” [‘have you tied-up to Jung Won?’].
PF:
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.” [It’s FL’s F-AA that complains she is
not receiving signals on this from her own F-RA].
PM: “You like me more, right?” [‘you have tied-up to me, right?’].
PF: “My feelings for you are hidden way deep down inside. How would I know?”
This seems a way not to respond to ML’s question, but in fact FL involuntarily leaks a detail
that, in light of what we know about F-RAs, confirms that she is aware to have tied-up to ML. In this
case, F-AA knows perfectly to whom the F-RA has tied-up, then FL is conscious about her own TU.
The issue is that FL’s F-AA disagrees with her own F-RA and does not accept that TU which puts the
AA into dissonance, especially because of her sense of guilt toward MA, a really good guy who also
successfully passed the whole battery of tests, but that unfortunately did not guess out the timing that
would have enabled him to be the first to cause a peak of excitement in FL’s F-RA. Thus, when the
F-AA says that FL’s sentiments for ML will remain buried in the deep, she is actually saying that she
will not give voice to the choice of the F-RA, which acts autonomously but below the threshold of
consciousness, that is, in the deep. Thus, the F-AA will pretend to know nothing about her own F-RA.
PF: “I thought there was nothing left, but it keeps popping up. I don’t even know how deep I locked it up.
So how should I know whom I like?” [The internal conflict, that is the discordance between F-AA and
F-RA, is apparent. At this point, either the F-RA manages to take over the F-AA, or there is the need to
act upon the F-AA to force it to accept the F-TU].
MA chooses to reinforce FL’s F-AA opposition to the F-TU for ML by proposing to FL to marry
(and in the Far East, a marriage offer amounts to an additional Filter Test which, if the proposing
partner deserves attention, provides a huge reward to any F-AA). To the contrary, ML chooses the
strategy to reinforce the excitement of the F-RA, hoping for its eventual takeover of the F-AA, offering
to FL sexual intimacy instead: “Sleep with me!”
5. Conclusions
At first glance, Jealousy incarnate might look like a classical example of romantic comedy tailored to
a female audience willing to indulge in escapist fantasies: A young woman, FL, modest, disadvantaged,
and without perspectives, who suddenly can choose between the man of her dreams (ML) and a ‘prince
charming’ (MA) who is even more perfect and desirable than she could ever dream of. Seen from this
angle, the issue of who is chosen and why appears pointless. However, in view of the story’s social
cognition valence, this superficial depiction is easily turned down.
FL is not a Cinderella who ‘magically’ finds two desirable partners at her feet for some twist of
fate. All the other characters are hostages of some form of jealousy (from which the title) fueling their
desire to compete and excel upon others, but also to be the object of the others’ desire, to exploit it
at their advantage and grab as many rewards and attention as possible to feed their ego. FL is the
only character that proves to be immune from this jealousy fever, and this is the reason at the root
of the deep psychological fascination, which the two male figures, ML and MA, end up feeling for
her, turning their RAs on. FL’s non-competitive attitude could be seen as a sign of inadequacy and
lack of self-confidence. However, the opposite is true: FL thinks big and is ambitious and daring,
to the point of superficially appearing as a silly, naïve dreamer. She longs for a career and a man that
are apparently unreachable, and she seems unwilling to rationally assess the feasibility of her plans,
especially if related to her capacities and actual possibilities. Still, despite that, she does not surrender
to jealousy and does not enter the competition. FL is in other words a representative example of a
Quiet Ego [
74
], i.e., an ego focused upon eudemonic growth goals [
75
] transcending the mere pursuit
of self-interest [
76
]. Tellingly, the developmental path of eudemonic well-being naturally lends itself to
be conceptualized in terms of narrative identity [
77
], rooting its process of psychosocial integration
upon the search for a shared existential meaning [
78
], conducted through a vigilant, sophisticated

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 14 of 19
exploration of the developmental potential of interpersonal relationships [
79
], and an awareness of the
transitions that punctuate personal growth paths leading to a socially mature personality [80].
FL does not competitively pit herself against others, nor she envies those who have what she
wants: This allows her to persist in pursuing her goals without wasting energies, and to maintain
her capacity to choose while eschewing the misleading influence of external circumstances and social
pressures. FL is far from a clueless girl arbitrarily parachuted into a daydreaming situation. Quite the
opposite, she deeply resonates with the RAs of the male characters who, for different reasons, have had
enough of the competitive, opportunistic social world that surrounds them. Both ML and MA have
passed the Bio-sexual Compatibility Test, and FL’s F-RA is therefore stimulated by both. From the
viewpoint of the female tests, if both partners are physically attractive, the difference lies in the timing
(who will excite the F-RA first, bringing it to a peak of indirect reward), and in the outcome of the
Filter Tests. Generally, the Filter Tests, being an expression of various forms of social conditioning,
privilege the most sought after positional resources: Status, wealth, physical prowess, social networks
and approval, and even (real or simulated) evidence of the TU of the opposite-sex subject. However,
for an uncompetitive FL, the Filter Test that eventually counts is the most unlikely and difficult to pass,
the Test of Moral Responsibility, that becomes the crucial choice determinant and also the proof of the
extraordinary personal transformation of ML, possibly the story’s most jealous and selfish character,
who thanks to such transformation is saved from a likely, irreversible existential failure.
FL does not passively wait for the male subject with the best timeliness and initiative in involving
her into a TU-C. She puts her F-AA into play, evaluating them also from the viewpoint of Filter Tests.
This choice would seem to favor MA, who clearly triumphs in all the most popular tests (attractiveness,
wealth, personality), as compared to ML, who has a bad character, is ill, and also has financial problems.
However, despite that the success in the Filter Tests is generally evaluated cumulatively (the more tests
are passed, the better), the relative weight of each test depends upon the F-AA’s value orientation.
FL’s choice would seem straightforward, and in fact she accepts MA’s courtship, relegating ML into an
affective relation of friendly camaraderie. Even ML’s extreme sacrifice, who renounces to his career
progression to favor FL (a choice once unthinkable for a person like him, now uniquely determined by
the strength of his TU) could look like a pleasant gift but certainly not a game changer for a competitive
FL who is interested in extracting the biggest possible benefit from the co-occurrence of the M-TUs of
the male rivals. What makes the difference in the choice are instead FL’s Quiet Ego and her personal
integrity. For her, the weight of the Moral Responsibility Test prevails upon all other combined Filter
Tests. The F-AA momentarily takes over and is unwilling to passively wait for the one who will
successfully excite her F-RA first. FL decides for once to be unfair to MA, suggesting herself to ML the
right timing to generate in her F-RA an exclusive F-TU for him. Can a woman love two men at once,
then? In a wide sense, the answer is affirmative: A woman can ‘love’ two men insofar as the Bio-sexual
Compatibility Test is successfully passed by two different candidates. However, in the end, she can
only tie-up to one of them because the TU is exclusive: Once the RA reaches its excitement peak with
an opposite-sex subject, it is incentivized to extract the highest possible reward from the interaction
with that subject rather than risking to dissipate the rewards through explorative interactions with
several different rivals, even if compatible. The passive nature of the RA implies that such excitement
is not the consequence of a deliberate choice but reflects the intensity of the received stimuli. Like in
evolutionary searches on fitness landscapes [
81
] such as e.g., in multi-armed bandit problems [
82
], the
excitement peak for the RA has the function to prioritize exploitation over exploration, that is, to make
the RA focus on the opposite-sex subject who rewarded it. If the two partners also manage to kick-offa
TU-C, the self-catalytic nature of the cycle, through the sequence of mutually satisfactory direct and
indirect rewards that each partner obtains from the other, will suitably amplify the rewards from the
interaction, locking the partners into a stable couple. Even if two compatible rivals could therefore
both be potentially able to successfully spark a TU-C with an opposite-sex subject, once one of them
has excited the partner’s RA and a cycle has been launched, the other has little chance to reverse the
trend. Thus, once the TU is formed and insofar as it remains solid, the RA focuses on the stimuli

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 15 of 19
coming from the subject it has tied-up to. If for ‘love’ we mean a relationship founded upon a TU, then,
the answer is negative: A woman can be tied-up to one man at a time only. In terms of the uniqueness
of the TU, a similar argument also holds for men and their M-RAs—keeping in mind the different
nature of the excitement of the RAs for women (bio-sexual) and men (psycho-emotional).
Despite the appearances, the mating dilemma analyzed in Jealousy incarnate is the opposite of an
escapist fantasy. The social cognition valence of this narrative ‘simulation’ lies in the recognition that
the super-cooperation between the partners that is at the root of a solid, vital TU-C depends upon
the capacity to generate a flow of reciprocal rewards that is not conditional upon the instrumental
benefit of the romantic relationship. This is essentially the evolutionary rationale of the TU: Creating a
permanent disposition to reward the partner with the timing and under the forms required by the
TU-C, to strengthen the couple bond according to a self-catalytic logic. With a FL such as that of Jealousy
incarnate, ML loses to MA on the basis of every choice criterion but his own, one-sided and apparently
hopeless, vow to sacrifice all for FL—even more striking if made by a character previously known for
his arrogance, competitiveness, and selfishness, as well as a powerful illustration of the paradoxical
nature of the process of self-actualization [
83
]. Self-actualization is what brings the main characters
to transcend the opportunistic dimension of mating through the discovery of the transformational
power of moral responsibility and self-sacrifice in the construction of a romantic couple bond, and the
fictional setting enables us to appreciate and understand how this outcome is brought about by a
subtle interplay of socio-psychological and biological forces. MA has immediately acknowledged
FL’s qualities and has put all his psychological and social resources at her disposal, but ML, in the
end, has done much more: He has let himself be transformed by his relationship with FL, accepting
a very high existential risk without reasonable hopes for success, ending up publicly exposing all
his weaknesses to protect her. To someone, this may be more valuable than a handsome, wealthy,
caring partner.
Unlike the anonymous, more or less attractive men and women with more or less symmetrical
faces or seductive postures whose photos are customarily shown to experimental subjects in lab
environments, the characters of our story, and more generally of romantic stories with a significant
social cognition valence, are ‘individuals’ with unique characteristics, which in best cases we will never
forget. This is the power of narrative simulations: Allowing to experiment with lifelike situations
without ethical concerns, to gather valuable experience that can be put to use in life situations. It is
interesting that K-dramas, also outside of the romantic genre, are starting to be used as narrative
simulation resources for intervention studies on social issues such as school bullying and mental
health [
84
], and are being recognized as an emergent resource for the negotiation of new femininities
in traditionally patriarchal socio-cultural environments [
85
]. To K-drama viewers, and more generally
to audiences of socially validated romantic fictions, certain contents may guide personal experiences,
not because viewers think that what they saw on screen is a ‘realistic’ depiction of life situations [
86
],
but because it parsimoniously models key features of such situations that are generally difficult to
recognize and interpret. For many young people exploring romantic relationships in social contexts
marked by a complex interplay between custom and social conditioning vs. pursuit of intimacy
and self-realization in mating choices, the social cognition valence of such stories offers a useful
resource for critical reflection, and makes K-dramas so widely appreciated, as compared to other
romantic popular culture narratives, sometimes also including traditionally more established Western
ones. There is already a growing body of research on the local socio-behavioral effects of the global
reception of romantic K-dramas, and we expect it to further develop in the next few years through an
increasing number of country studies. Clearly, there are many other valuable sources of narrative social
cognition of romantic relationships other than K-dramas, as documented in previous studies [
28
,
36
,
37
].
However, the fact that South Korea has been simultaneously experiencing both a crucial moment of
socio-cultural transition with huge consequences on the social logic of personal relationships and
mating choices, and a flourishing of its cultural industry, leading to a massive creative production
exploring the dilemmas and complexities of romantic interactions—and making it available to a wide,

Behav. Sci. 2020,10, 134 16 of 19
culturally diverse global audience that constantly operates as a test bed for the social validation of
narratives—makes of K-dramas an especially interesting source for future research. For this reason,
we look forward to more studies on the social cognition valence of romantic K-dramas.
Author Contributions:
Conceptualization, L.L.B. and P.L.S.; methodology, L.L.B. and P.L.S.; writing—original
draft preparation, L.L.B. and P.L.S.; writing—review and editing, L.L.B. and P.L.S. All authors have read and
agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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