The Evolution of Human Mating

As one of the descendants of reproductively successful ancestors, we, as modern humans have
inherited the mating techniques used by our ancestors to achieve their reproductive success
because we are one of their offspring. These tactics include mate poaching (luring another
person's partner), short-term committed mating (e.g., marriage), extra-pair mating (e.g.,
adultery), long-term committed mating (e.g., marriage), short-term committed mating (e.g., a
brief sexual encounter), and mate guarding (effort devoted to keeping a mate). However, there is
more to learn other than facets to human mating. For example, why do men and women
occasionally choose partners that bring them misery? Some hurt them physically and mentally.
Some people lead silently desperate mating lives. Attempts to win over new partners frequently
fail. Couples fight, which leads to a downward cycle of blame and hopelessness. Nearly half of
all married couples end up divorcing, despite their greatest efforts and lifetime love promises.

According to David Puts, it all dates back to a couple of 6-7 million years ago. Right after the
division of our lineage from the lineage that would eventually give rise to chimps. They had little
brains, moved on two legs, and the males probably engaged in combat to get access to females
for mating. Males tend to be bigger, stronger, more physically aggressive, and more muscular
while competing for mates since the fossil record shows that our male predecessors were larger
than female counterparts. However, Females also evolved 2.5 million years ago. Since giving
birth is extremely energetically costly, they now sometimes chose to mate with a subordinate
male even if he may not possess the best genes, if he provided resources. Which goes to show
that our ancestors already exhibited some of the characteristics that we practice up until to this
day.

In that regard, the evolutionary tree is not far from where our fruit has fallen. Nevertheless, it
seems that there are things new and that is all because of these 3 three elements of Evolutionary
framework for human mating that I learned online. First, strategies for mating developed to solve
specific problems in human evolutionary history. Second, people behave differently depending
on the type of mating involved. There are two types of mating, short term and long term mating.
Short term mating is defined as casual sex (i.e. one-night stands and brief affairs). Long term
mating is seen as a committed relationship (i.e. dating, going steady, and marriage). Third, males
and females developed different strategies due to the difference in problems they have had over
the course of human evolution (Buss 241).

I discovered after reading a lot of material on the development of human mating that it is
expensive for us to ignore the true and paradoxical nature of human mating, both scientifically
and socially. Scientifically, ignorance leaves some of life's most perplexing problems
unanswered, such as why people spend years of their lives pursuing love and battling for
satisfying relationships. So- cially, when mating goes wrong, whether in the maze of online
dating sites, in hookups on college campuses, in the job, or in our homes, our ignorance leaves us
confused, helpless, and frequently harmed. The profound love that all people yearn for must be
reconciled with the conflict that permeates even our most beloved connections. We must find a
method to reconcile the conflict that permeates even our most prized relationships with the
immense love that all people yearn for. We must reconcile our aspirations with realities. To
comprehend these perplexing inconsistencies, we must look back at our evolutionary past—a
past that has grooved and scored our minds just as much as our bodies, a past where our methods
for mating have been just as important as our plans for surviving.