Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!nih-csl!lhc!ncifcrf!haven!uflorida!rex!wuarchive!usc!apple!bionet!agate!linus!philabs!ttidca!jackson
From: jackson@ttidca.TTI.COM (Dick Jackson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Are Humans Naturally Monogamous?
Message-ID: <20770@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: 25 Oct 90 20:27:59 GMT
References: <1990Oct24.175532.9407@pmafire.UUCP> <4081@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>
Followup-To: sci.bio
Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica
Lines: 22


Definition of terms. If monogamous means having a very strong instinct to
pair bond for life, then the answer is clearly No.

There is clearly a lot of evidence that humans have a strong instinct to
pair bond in the sense that at any given time we most often form quasi-
permanent one-to-one relationships.

In the case of humans, as with birds, the reason is based on energy
considerations -- the male, by provisioning the female, can allow the
family to successfully raise many more children than if the female only
was responsible (like gorillas).

However, a distant pseudo-relation of mine has just written a book which
claims that polygny (sp?) has been the norm in most cultures up to the
current European based ones now in vogue. This system also seems stable
and energetically sound (provided the male has enough resources at his
command. Whether this is "natural*" or not seems any interesting question.

Dick Jackson

* By natural, I mean in accord with pre-wiring.