Beyond being stinkingly cute and adorable, emperor penguins also have interesting love lives. 

We give flowers and hand-written cards to woo a partner… Emperor penguins give rocks. We set rose petals everywhere, play The Weeknd, and light candles to create a romantic ambiance, while emperor penguins breed in the Antarctic with temperatures as low as -50 degrees. Breezy!

Although our displays of affection vary so much with these creatures, we do have one thing in common: The desire for a companion in the winter. Emperor penguins mate with the same partner every year during winter. If a partner doesn’t show up, the show must go on; most birds will choose another mate. 

For humans, the concept of relationships has evolved tremendously. We’ve devised “relationships” with definite expiration dates—a phenomenon better referred to as cuffing season.

To understand the psychology behind cuffing season, let’s dive into how the seasons affect our behavior. 

The Association Behind Cuffing Season and Weather

Associations are deeply ingrained in us. We eat breakfast in the morning because it somehow feels right. But if we had lunch for breakfast, dinner for lunch, and breakfast for dinner, all hell breaks loose. The power of associations is silent, yet powerful, similar to how seasonal changes influence various associations we develop—from the clothes we wear, the food we consume, and even the types of relationships we seek. 

Let’s take the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte for example. Many indulge in this obsession in the Fall season, but would never be caught sipping a PSL during the summer because it’s just wrong. That’s associations at work. And cuffing season can be described in the same manner. It occurs during the same time as the PSL when people seek relationships. But there’s more to this than we think we know. 

To grasp how the changes in seasons influence our social and consumer behavior, let’s first understand the forces that birthed the cuffing season. 

How Seasonal Changes Influence Dating and Consumer Behavior 

The brain, through memory-by-association, connects specific experiences to the context in which they take place. On a hot summer day, we see Vin Diesel in almost all the Fast and Furious movies sipping on a Corona beer. During Spring Break, we see thousands of college students on beaches making poor decisions. And even the way we speak about the weather has its own associative connotations—no one ever says “It’s such a lovely day outside” when it's cloudy, rainy, or snowing. 

Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year have their own associations, and one specifically in common. They are all holidays associated with family, companionship, and love. During these holidays, you may feel the need to be cozy, and indoors watching Home Alone with your loved ones. Whereas if it were summer, you’d be found at the park or at home not watching Home Alone. In the context of dating, as the weather shifts to cold, organically meeting “the one, for the season” in traditional everyday life cuts by more than half as more people stay indoors. 

Dating apps have made finding someone special to keep you warm on those lonely nights easier. Over the next couple of months, fifty percent of dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble, or Grindr users will be swiping for dear life and feeling a little parched for companionship during the winter to alleviate loneliness. 

Fall and Winter are also not just important for dating but consumerism as well. The desire for human connection can also be seen in festivals and romance-induced TV shows. Dating shows such as The Bachelorette, Ex on the Beach, and Love Island are all filmed during a pleasantly warm time of the year. Coincidence much? Perhaps not. We have been socially conditioned to associate the summer as a time to be carefree and reckless much like the brain in Spring Break mode. Think about how reckless and carefree you feel during the summer versus the winter? This mentality gets reinforced by the depiction of sexy singlets having steamy hook-ups on reality TV and walking around in swimsuits at festivals on social media and in advertising. 

The parallel between season changes and human behavior begs the question: are we in control of what we like and consume or are we at the mercy of being influenced by those who have mastered these techniques? 

Cuffing Season and the Power of Neuromarketing

It’s crucial to understand neuromarketing as it is the new operating system of modern civilization. It’s one of the most hidden, driving forces in our everyday, consumer lives. As consumers, becoming more self-aware as to why we behave and react the way we do during certain seasons, can help us understand how our brains are impacted by vast and complex principles from emotion to logic, memory to nostalgia, and identity to sociality. 

Neuromarketing at play helps you understand why cuffing season, reality TV shows, dating apps don’t happen by accident. Learning how our external world affects our internal world is one step to becoming a better consumer. 

Now, as the days begin to shorten and the long nights highlight the coldness in the air, the penguins begin to gift rocks, leading to a beautiful “cuffing” moment.

What’s Next?

References

CN; M. P. M. M. (2012, June 12). Seasonal variation in internet keyword searches: a proxy assessment of sex mating behaviors. Archives of sexual behavior. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22810997/. 

Gorham, J., & Fiore, A. T. (2021, March 13). The right time for love: Tracking the seasonality of relationship formation. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/notes/10158927976413415/. 

Harvey-Jenner, C. (2020, December 24). This is why most babies are conceived around Christmas. Cosmopolitan. https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body/health/a14413812/why-most-babies-are-conceived-at-christmas/. 

Dating.com. (2019, September 26). Dating.com Found That Online Activity Hits Peak Season During Cold Winter Months. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/datingcom-found-that-online-activity-hits-peak-season-during-cold-winter-months-300926222.html. 

Notte, J. (2017, September 1). Americans are buying beer and a beach vacation at the same time. MarketWatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-are-buying-beer-and-a-beach-vacation-at-the-same-time-2017-09-01. 

PM, M., & CN, M. (2012). Search Trends Reveal Sexual Seasons. http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/07/search-trends-reveal-sexual-seasons.html.