Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Re: Some answers for Chuck (on evolution and marriage)
From: sbishop@desire.wright.edu
Date: 23 Jul 92 06:30:45 EST
Organization: Wright State University 

In article <1992Jul22.170457@IASTATE.EDU>, kv07@IASTATE.EDU (Warren Vonroeschlaub) writes:
> In article <Brsv1y.CFn@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, mrjg8679@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Michael R
> James) writes:
>> adpeters@sunflower.bio.indiana.edu (Andy Peters) writes:
>> 
>> >In article <BrsMCD.8rp@news.cso.uiuc.edu> maier@romulus (Chuck Maier)
> writes:
>> 
>> >>On the other hand , if A&E are just a figleaf of our illustration, and
>> >>humans originated from herds of apemen, then it is the natural order of
>> >>things to be polygamous and copulate with anything in heat.
>> 
>> [explanations for monogamy in evo deleted]
>> 
>> >I don't know what the currently-accepted explanation is for human
>> >monogamy, but I would suspect it is some combination of 1 and 2
>> 
>> I hate to muddy the waters here, but I don't think
>> humans are strictly monogamous.  Actually I've heard that
>> polygamous cultures greatly outnumber the monogamous ones.
> 
>   If you study those cultures you will probably find that they are ones where
> "polygamy is acceptable".  Actual polygamy would probably be restricted to a
> small social elite in almost all cases.
> 
>   In this case it still fits in with explanation #1, as the very wealthy can
> usually afford to support more females.
> 
>> What is important to keep in mind is that humans are born practically
>> a blank slate.
> 
>   Not quite true.  I am sure there are others, but a big one is that humans are
> preprogrammed to react to a woman screaming.
> 

An excellent book on this topic is _Nature's Thumbprint_.  The author is of
the opinion that humans have more 'hardwiring' than we are considering, that
many aspects of personality, cognition, and outlook on life are heritible.
PLEASE NOTE:   He does *NOT* approach this from a racist view but rather
addresses differences and similarities between children in the same family 
and within groups.

As a mother of a house full of teenaged boys, I can see this very clearly.
I have one son who is extremely similar in personality (and the amount of
trouble that he has been getting into) to his male cousins, his uncle and
his grandfather.   In the smaller families that are much more common these
days, it is not as noticeable as it used to be but if you are from a larger
family, you notice these things.  

Sue

>>  Most other animals are born with a host of _instinctual_
>> behavior patterns, but humans acquire most of their behaviors
>> through *learning*.
> 
>   Is fingernail-biting learned?  What about nose picking, or ear picking.  If
> anything these are discouraged, but they still happen.  There is also the
> rooting reflex in infants, and the sucking reflex.  The list goes on.
> 
>>  This also ties in with the thread karl pfaff had
>> advanced.  It is (almost) meaningless to try to look to nature for
>> any "natural" behavior for man.  If such a pattern of behaviors were
>> to exist, it would be best to search across cultures for similiarities.
> 
> ***********************************************************************
> * Warren Kurt   *  "In our country we have those three unspeakably    *
> * vonRoeschlaub *   precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of    *
> * kv07@iastate  *   conscience, and the prudence never to practice    *
> *               *   either." - Mark Twain                             *
> ***********************************************************************