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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Richard Marchetti writes:
> For example: the emotion identified by many as "love" is probably a creation
> of natural selection and has a lot to do with getting human beings to mate
> for the propagation of the species. Anthropologists have discovered that
> the human species seems to favor "love" relationships that last in the main
> from 4-6 years, usually just enough time to have a few kids and bring them
> into the stages of later childhood. When children are at thier youngest,
> nature needs the parents to stay together for the benefit of the children --
> for protection, for the gathering of food, to be their transportation
> system, etc. Once children are out of these earlier stages of childhood and
> can move well on their own and generally fend for themselves, nature cares
> less whether parents stay together or not. As a consequence of children's
> greater autonomy, loving relationships that create children tend to last
> between 4-6 years in our species and this has been the case it is thought
> for several thousand years -- in the exact same way that your physiology
> matches that of human being best described as a "hunter/gatherer." Marriage
> as you may know it and think of it is a relatively new thing -- something
> that came into fashion more strongly during the industrial revolution.
> Elsewhere, people hookup and break up on the 4-6 year cycle described above.
Really? Do you have a convenient cite for this? I did some google
searching, and only found 2nd or 3rd hand references of dubious quality. I
have heard the 4-6 year thing before, but never from a particularly
qualified source. It's also never been cited to me as a state that held up
until the last century or so; it's always been suggested as applicable to
pre-agrarian societies. Certainly the historical record counters your
implication that marriages were not lifetime partnerings in pre-industrial
western society.
If you don't have a convenient cite, don't put much effort into it on my
behalf; it's just intellectual curiosity.
James
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: slight
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| In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Brown writes: <snip> (...) Well, there's a movie called 'The 7 Year Itch'... ;) Dave K (22 years ago, 17-Jul-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | 4-6 year human mating cycle (was Re: slight)
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| (...) Yeah, I don't have ready access to any of my old cultural or physical anthropology standbys so all I can do is assert some stuff from memory. The linked theories here are those concerning "serial monogamy", "sperm wars", and "love as chemical (...) (22 years ago, 19-Jul-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: slight
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| (...) See? This is why I only skim your replies... Bruce is talking about a debate technique called an "emotional appeal" -- usually this takes the form of something that stirs the emotions of a reader or listener but that also tends to lack a (...) (22 years ago, 17-Jul-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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