Princes Charming are not all made equal. The social cognition of mating strategies in four classical fairy tales

In this paper, we apply the so-called Tie-Up Theory to the analysis of the social cognition of mating processes in fairy tales. Our analysis considers the four classical fairy tales that are more relevant to this topic, and proves how their structure systematically reflects the logic of the male–female interaction anticipated by the theory, and in addition allows to formulate an interesting typology of strategic approaches by the male partner. Unlike preexisting interpretations, where fairy tale characters tend to be presented as stereotypes, our analysis shows how, in their most sophisticated and interesting variants, the said fairy tales place an emphasis on the unique individual traits that make the potential partners reciprocally fit to form the couple. This change of perspective is conducive to interesting applications both from the viewpoint of the analysis of fairy tales and in terms of the implications of the related form of social cognition for the study and the understanding of human behavior.