Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand
University of Minnesota.
Perspect Psychol Sci. 2015 Jan;10(1):20-36. doi: 10.1177/1745691614561683.
This article evaluates a thesis containing three interconnected propositions. First, romantic love is a "commitment device" for motivating pair-bonding in humans. Second, pair-bonding facilitated the idiosyncratic life history of hominins, helping to provide the massive investment required to rear children. Third, managing long-term pair bonds (along with family relationships) facilitated the evolution of social intelligence and cooperative skills. We evaluate this thesis by integrating evidence from a broad range of scientific disciplines. First, consistent with the claim that romantic love is an evolved commitment device, our review suggests that it is universal; suppresses mate-search mechanisms; has specific behavioral, hormonal, and neuropsychological signatures; and is linked to better health and survival. Second, we consider challenges to this thesis posed by the existence of arranged marriage, polygyny, divorce, and infidelity. Third, we show how the intimate relationship mind seems to be built to regulate and monitor relationships. Fourth, we review comparative evidence concerning links among mating systems, reproductive biology, and brain size. Finally, we discuss evidence regarding the evolutionary timing of shifts to pair-bonding in hominins. We conclude there is interdisciplinary support for the claim that romantic love and pair-bonding, along with alloparenting, played critical roles in the evolution of Homo sapiens.
本文评估了一篇包含三个相互关联命题的论文。首先，浪漫爱情是人类促进伴侣关系的“承诺机制”。其次，伴侣关系促进了人类独特的生活史，有助于提供抚养孩子所需的大量投资。第三，管理长期的伴侣关系（以及家庭关系）促进了社会智力和合作技能的进化。我们通过整合来自广泛科学学科的证据来评估这一论点。首先，与浪漫爱情是一种进化的承诺机制的说法一致，我们的综述表明它是普遍存在的；抑制了伴侣搜索机制；具有特定的行为、激素和神经心理学特征；与更好的健康和生存有关。其次，我们考虑了存在包办婚姻、一夫多妻制、离婚和不忠对这一论点的挑战。第三，我们展示了亲密关系的心理是如何被构建来调节和监控关系的。第四，我们回顾了有关交配系统、生殖生物学和大脑大小之间联系的比较证据。最后，我们讨论了有关人类向伴侣关系转变的进化时间的证据。我们的结论是，有跨学科的证据支持浪漫爱情和伴侣关系以及代际育儿在智人进化中发挥了关键作用的说法。
