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Biology - Evolution

THE EVOLUTIONARY BASIS of HUMAN MATE SELECTION

The concept of human love is ubiquitous to virtually all human social cultures and forms the basis of the nuclear family system. Traditional views of love and marriage in Western society in particular focuses on the notion of a deep emotional bond and according to many poets and songwriters, even the belief that every person has a single true "sole mate." As romantic as those beliefs are, contemporary researchers in the fields of evolutionary biology, psychosexual neurology, and developmental psychology have identified the hard-wired biological bases of practically every element of human romantic interest, mate selection, the prevailing patterns of promiscuity, infidelity in marriage, and even gender-based biological responses to marital infidelity, both real and imaginary.

Those conclusions derive from numerous studies, among them: (1) those examining human infants and their different responses to adult of varying levels of attractiveness; (2) the importance of measures of physical symmetry as subconscious indicators of overall physical health and resistance to detrimental genetic mutation; (3) the significance of hormonal influence and fluctuation on specific sexual choices; (4) the correspondence between universal measures of female attractiveness and relative fertility; (5) the role of scent and subconscious determination of relative immune-system compatibility; and (6) the biological bases of universal gender differences in the jealous impulse and the response to spousal infidelity.

The Biological Basis of Human Sexual Attraction:

Throughout recorded human history, and likely since the dawn of civilization, human beliefs have emphasized the view that, unlike animals whose mating behavior is the result of impulses and unthinking reaction to stimuli, human romantic love is the result of conscious choices based on values and intellect, particularly in the realm of choosing lifelong partners (Barash & Lipton 2001). However, the growth of our understanding of the degree to which human behavior is actually attributable directly to automatic processes contradicts that point-of-view.

As much as we may believe that we select our partners by virtue of their inner qualities and attributes that are more meaningful than superficial appearance, most of the characteristics to which we respond with potential romantic interest are dictated by automatic processes and quantifiable variables (Morris 2002) that are as predictable and unconscious as their counterparts throughout the rest of the animal kingdom.

Traditionally, sociologists have pointed to the environmental influences of human culture and societal norms to explain the perceived value of physical beauty, often suggesting that variation in concepts of attractiveness among different cultures evidences that physical beauty is strictly an arbitrary subjective measure that is learned along with other fundamental elements of human social culture.