Grandmothers May Have Driven Human Tendency Towards Monogamy And Romance

New research suggests that humans can do what they haven't done too much of---thank their grandmothers. They need to express gratitude to them for their monogamous and romantic relationships, according to hngn.

University of Utah anthropologist Kristen Hawkes has given the "grandmother hypothesis," which shows that prehistoric grandmothers have helped us to live "our long life spans", the University of Utah reported.

With more computer simulations, Hawkes is showing a link between the influence of ancient grandmothers on longevity and human monogamy.

With increasing lifespans, there are a lot of older fertile men, leading to a male tendency to guard his woman from other suitors and "pair bond" with her.

"Pair bonds are universal in human societies and distinguish us from our closest living relatives," Hawkes and colleagues write in the study. "Our hypothesis is that human pair bonds evolved with increasing payoffs for mate guarding, which resulted from the evolution of our grandmothering life history."

Hence, this finding no longer supports the theories which show that human monogamy has developed due to the males foraging for food for their mate and her offspring, so that they can enjoy "ensured paternity".

"[According to the grandmother hypothesis] the key to why moms can have next babies sooner is not because of dad bringing home the bacon but because of grandma helping feed the weaned children. That favored increased longevity as longer-lived grandmothers helped more," Hawkes said.

Examining whether or not a number of older males in ancient times influenced the nature of modern human relationships, the findings show why men like younger women, while chimpanzees follow a rule of law that is exactly the opposite.

"[As human longevity increased there were] lots more old guys, so you have an increasing number of males in the paternity competition, and the only way you can become a father is with a fertile female, which means younger females. So males who had preference for younger females were more likely to leave descendants," Hawkes said.

The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.