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. 2017 Nov 21:8:1922.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01922. eCollection 2017.

Love Influences Reproductive Success in Humans

Piotr Sorokowski  1 , Agnieszka Sorokowska  1   2 , Marina Butovskaya  3 , Maciej Karwowski  1 , Agata Groyecka  1 , Bogdan Wojciszke  4 , Bogusław Pawłowski  5
Affiliations

Love Influences Reproductive Success in Humans

Piotr Sorokowski et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

As love seems to be universal, researchers have attempted to find its biological basis. However, no studies till date have shown its direct association with reproductive success, which is broadly known to be a good measure of fitness. Here, we show links between love, as defined by the Sternberg Triangular Theory of Love, and reproductive success among the Hadza-traditional hunter-gatherer population. We found that commitment and reproductive success were positively and consistently related in both sexes, with number of children showing negative and positive associations with intimacy and passion, respectively, only among women. Our study may shed new light on the meaning of love in humans' evolutionary past, especially in traditional hunter-gatherer societies in which individuals, not their parents, were responsible for partner choice. We suggest that passion and commitment may be the key factors that increase fitness, and therefore, that selection promoted love in human evolution. However, further studies in this area are recommended.

Keywords: Hadza; commitment; human evolution; hunter-gatherers; number of children; passion; romantic (love); sexual selection.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sex differences in love components.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Interactions between sex and love aspects on number of children. (A) demonstrates different effects of intimacy on number of children among women and men: the effect is negative and significant among women (B = −0.26, SE = 0.11, p = 0.02), but not among men (B = 0.15, SE = 0.08, p = 0.07). (B) shows a positive effect of passion on number of children among women (B = 0.24, SE = 0.12, p = 0.05), but not among men (B = −0.16, SE = 0.12, p = 0.19). (C) illustrates positive effects of commitment on number of children; the effect is significant among men (B = 0.27, SE = 0.12, p = 0.02) but not women (B = 0.17, SE = 0.16; p = 0.30).
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