Why They Might Have Left You for a Less Valuable Partner

Key points

Generally, people try to attract and keep the best romantic partner they can get—but there are exceptions.

Over time, they may feel unable or unwilling to meet the greater expectations of those high-value partners.

So, they may “trade down” to a partner who has less positive and more accurate expectations of them instead.

Both common sense and science tell us that people desire to attract and keep the best mate they can get. Someone who has high value, who commits to them, and who thinks highly of them in return. Nevertheless, we also hear of people ending relationships and divorcing spouses, only to pick a new partner who seems to be objectively lower in mate value afterwards. Why?

Sometimes, we can uncover hidden variables or biases that explain the choice. Perhaps they