Non-Fiction Notes
Non-Fiction Notes
Category: Uncategorized
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Beauty fades. Personality remains.
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When you look at YouTube, you find countless pop-psychology or dating-guru explanations about what men desire and what women desire in a partner. But if you truly want to examine these preferences in depth—if you want solid, evidence-based knowledge about them—you could read The Evolution of Desire by David Buss. Over countless millennia, humans evolved…
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~”You shall know a man by the company he keeps.”
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The central question of the book is:What constituted adaptive behavior in ancestral environments? A related question follows naturally:What constitutes adaptive behavior in modern environments? I will shortly provide a comprehensive summary of the entire book. I have already shared summaries of all ten chapters.
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I think the final chapter is a thoughtful and fitting conclusion to the book. It reiterates several essential facts and observations developed earlier and, beyond that, expresses a sense of wonder at the uniquely human capacity to form long-term bonds: “Men and women have always depended on each other for transporting their genes to future…
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This chapter explores sex-specific trajectories in mate value and their behavioral consequences. Changes over Time An alpha male can lose dominance over time: “Although there were four adult males in the troop, Yeroen was responsible for nearly 75 percent of all matings when the females came into estrus. As Yeroen grew older, however, things began…
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Breaking Up “Divorce and remarriage are so common in the United States that nearly 50 percent of all children do not live with both of their genetic parents. Stepfamilies are rapidly becoming the norm, not the exception.” Why do individuals choose to leave long-term committed relationships? “People end committed relationships for many reasons. A spouse…
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Sexual Conflict “NOVELS, SONGS, SOAP operas, and tabloids tell us about battles between men and women and the pain they inflict on each other. Wives bemoan their husbands’ neglect; husbands are bewildered by their wives’ moodiness. “Men are emotionally constricted,” say women. “Women are emotional powder kegs,” say men. Men want sex too soon, too…
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Staying Together Beyond mate acquisition, the task of mate retention becomes crucial. Buss argues that many important benefits arise from maintaining a long-term partner: “TREMENDOUS BENEFITS FLOW to couples who remain committed. From this unique alliance come efficiencies that include complementary skills, a division of labor, and a sharing of resources, as well as mutual…
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I have read the first five chapters of The Evolution of Desire, which roughly cover the first half of the book. What is in it for the reader? Human mating is a realm filled with clichés, and the world is saturated with loud and often false information on this topic. For that reason, it is…
Non-Fiction Notes 