- Big Q: Are all people created equal?
- Big Q: Is art getting better or worse?
- Big Q: Are books dead?
- Big Q: Why are 43 percent of Americans barely able to read?
- Big Q: Who's better at communicating -- men or women?
- Big Q: Are there any modern mummies?
- Big Q: Is texting the end of talking?
- Big Q: Is privacy a dying concept or the next battleground?
- Big Q: Is the Internet making us sicker?
- Big Q: What makes a good citizen?
- Big Q: Is race a social construct?
- Big Q: Can love actually kill you?
- Big Q: Should we force a cap on the U.S. population?
- Big Q: Do prisons create more criminals?
- Big Q: If the 1 percent had less, would the 99 percent really have more?
- Big Q: Are humans meant to be monogamous?
- Big Q: Can humanity counteract the damage it's done to Earth?
- Big Q: Is global warming real?
- Big Q: Is healthy food a right or a privilege?
- Big Q: What is Gender?
- Big Q: Is there a "gay gene"?
- Big Q: Are rich people smarter?
- Big Q: If you saw someone being mugged would you stop to help?
- Big Q: Can music make you smarter?
- Big Q: What role does creativity have in business?
- Big Q: Should your health be public information?
- Big Q: Can prayer heal cancer?
- Big Q: Is there life before birth?
- Big Q: Is racism hereditary? (Is there a racist gene?)
- Big Q: Would the world be different if we all looked alike?
- Big Q: Are we inherently evil?
- Big Q: Is it better to confess a lie or keep it secret?
- Big Q: Will the world end in 2012?
- Big Q: What's the first thing you'd say to an alien?
- Big Q: Is there a sixth sense?
- Big Q: Is God evil?
- Big Q: Should fast food be outlawed?
- Big Q: Why is depression becoming more common?
- Big Q: Will surgeons be replaced by robots?
- Big Q: Can we arrest aging by destroying certain cells in our bodies?
- Big Q: Is any place in the U.S. safe from Mother Nature?
- Big Q: Does the Mayan calendar predict our doom -- will the world end in December 2012?
- Big Q: Did the Mayans use multiple calendars?
- Big Q: Why did the Mayans use a 260-day calendar?
- Big Q: Will humans still look the same 10,000 years from now?
- Big Q: Can the brain solve problems while the body sleeps?
- Big Q: What impact does ocean acidification have on undersea life?
- Big Q: Would we age differently on another planet?
- Big Q: Are near death experiences just hallucinations?
- Big Q: Is fashion empowering?
- Big Q: Can playing games make us smarter?
- Big Q: Could a hacker take down the Internet?
- Big Q: Do animals have a sense of right and wrong?
- Big Q: Do clothes really make the man (or woman)?
- Big Q: Does having children make us happier?
- Big Q: Does monogamy make us happier?
- Big Q: Does quantum foam hold the keys to time travel?
- Big Q: Does the Internet make travel irrelevant?
- Big Q: Does the modern prison system work?
- Big Q: Have credit cards made us poor?
- Big Q: How does science fiction predict the future?
- Big Q: How has the Internet changed politics?
- Big Q: How is globalization changing culture?
- Big Q: Is marriage dead?
- Big Q: Is taxation stealing?
- Big Q: Is the "American Dream" really possible?
- Big Q: Is the U.S. Constitution out of date?
- Big Q: Is there an ideal form of government?
- Big Q: Is your personal information the new currency?
- Big Q: What are the odds of surviving a plane crash?
- Big Q: What does 'free speech' really mean?
- Big Q: What does it take to explore the Mariana Trench?
- Big Q: What is fashion?
- Big Q: What is the future of the book?
- Big Q: What is the future of travel?
- Big Q: Why are humans competitive?
- Big Q: Why does fashion change?
- Big Q: Why does health care in the United States cost so much?
- Big Q: How much longer will we use paper currency?
- Big Q: Is technology killing our ability to practice patience?
- Big Q: Who is the world's most powerful person?
- Big Q: Does good grammar still matter?
- Big Q: Is Internet access a right or a privilege?
- Big Q: Are we getting dumber?
Big Question: Are humans meant to be monogamous?
While it may seem sometimes like we're hard wired for one mate and one mate only, does that assertion really hold up to scrutiny? The answer may depend on which lens you choose to look through. Curiosity contributor Susan Sherwood considered the question through several lenses.
Are humans meant to be monogamous? Maybe! It depends on the measure used. What about monogamy in genetic terms? In 2010, researchers using genomic data studied several ancient populations and found that, while humans had been primarily monogamous, there were definite tendencies toward polygamy. What about in biological terms? Among all mammals -- even primates -- humans are the only ones who are generally monogamous both genetically (producing offspring) and socially (non-sexual interactions).
What about monogamy looked at through the lens of anthropology? Throughout world history, most societies allowed polygamy. The earliest appearance of culturally induced monogamy appears to have been in ancient Greece and Rome.
How about a contemporary approach: How faithful are husbands and wives today? A 2006 National Science Foundation study reported on American behavior since 1972. Approximately 10 percent of married people admitted to cheating each year. However, overall lifetime cheating rates are rising for both sexes. When married people aged 60 or older were surveyed, 28 percent of men admitted to having been unfaithful at some point during their marriage; 15 years ago, it was 20 percent. The corresponding numbers for women are 15 percent currently and 5 percent 15 years ago.
So there currently seems to be a slow decline in monogamy. Why? It hasn't become less socially desirable: The majority of Americans still consider infidelity wrong. One factor may be digital media: The availability of Internet porn has changed sexual attitudes, and there is instant access to other potential cheating partners through cell phones, e-mail, instant messages and on-line social media sites. Stepping out can be less than a step away.
On a related note, after seeing how monogamy has taken it on the chin a bit, it's interesting to wonder how family life has changed over the years. Martha Stewart talks about that in the video below.
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