Monogamy. Learned or Natural for Humans

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neoolong
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Post by neoolong »

Raoul Duke, Jr. wrote:
Shinova wrote:
Raoul Duke, Jr. wrote:Or even purely practical considerations -- I know that, being the "hunter/gatherer" for my own kids and having both an ex-wife and a girlfriend, I don't think I could afford polygamy. Now going back to prehistoric times, imagine busting your ass all day long hunting, fishing, whatever just for one family -- now imagine how hard it would be to do that for more than one family...
Actually, I think back in prehistoric days, humans lived in communities of groups of families, not just one family.
Still, the harder you worked, the more you took home, he?
Actually if there are economies of scale with a one unit increase in family you can get more than one unit of output back. So for the average person you make work a bit harder, but you get even more than that bit back.
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Exonerate
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Post by Exonerate »

data_link wrote:
Exonerate wrote:If I recall correctly, a male's instinct is torn between spreading his genetic material as much as possible and being a stable mate (so that females like him)
BTW, is this also true for Angels?
I have no idea...

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lgot
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Post by lgot »

if you had to compare, you will compate with the closest, the other primates. They are mostly polyygamics. probally monogamy started to be followed when the human specie achivide some level of high stability, where the organization was more vital than the reproduction...
but even so the question is not logical
All we learned come from our instintics. So, monogamy was developed was where the needs to survival claimed for it and polygamy where the survival called for it...both are in their origens from our instintics and both are to moderm societies learned.
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hvb
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Post by hvb »

OK Scary Story ahead:
Human females also have a choice to make between "playing" and "offspring maintainance".

Biology has solved it this way: Women are more outgoing when in the fertile stage of their menstrual cycle, and choose partners who are more masculine during this time then they usually do. During the rest of their cycle they are more attracted to men that show "offspring maintainance"-related behavior and/or look somewhat less masculine.

As far as I remember 30% of all men who have their fathership tested prove not to be the fathers of the child their female partner want them to help raise.
Now this is of course misleading, as those who get tested are those who are suspicious, but it proves that the idea of grapping some good genes, then finding a gullible-&-social male to raise and provide for the resulting offspring is not an unknown survival strategy in human females.
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