Explores some of the forces that affect monogamy.

1. Why are some monogamous:
CULTURAL DECISION OR NATURAL INCLINATION?

2. First off let’s define a few things
 Monogamy is when only one mate is taken for a given time period.
 Culture tends to shift the meaning around but the gist is its usually a one-for-
one situation either socially, sexually, or legally.
 Polygamy is just the opposite. If we want to refer to the relationship
favoring multiple male or female partner’s specifically we use two different
terms.
 Polygyny is when a male takes multiple female partners.
 Polyandry is when a female takes multiple male partners.

3. People are complicated. So how people make their decisions to engage in
sexual activity is bound to be complicated as well. This isn’t to say EVERY
person has trouble deciding how to behave sexually, rather, that on the whole
it’s hard to tell WHY they behave that way.
We circumvent urge’s all the time. The degree of this internal conflict is
harder for some than others. Prodding around a few hundred thousand minds
might help us get a better picture as to why but instead let’s focus on some
of the forces that influence our monogamous nature instead.
Keep in mind, the following are just a few of the many different
arguments about what can explain monogamy in humans.
“Depending upon the type of person one is, a love affair is about either what one is getting
into or what one is getting out of [but] the compulsive monogamist never has to ask such
questions. For him the future is the same as the past. Such a person values a relationship
because it lasts and thereby lives as if time proves something.” Price (1998)

4. Keep in mind that when one considers the following individual forces, that no
single explanation is likely the cause for monogamy or polygamy. Like most
things in life, the cause probably involves a degree of compromise from
several or all of the areas discussed.
External Forces can be:
• Economic
• Social
• Cultural
• Ecological
Internal Forces can be:
• Evolutionary Demands
• Cognitive Reasoning
• Biological
Did you Know?
No more than 5% of mammals are known
to engage in monogamous pairing!
(Schuiling, 2003)
We Made
the Cut!
The following will discuss some but not all off
these forces.

5. EVOLUTIONARY
 Perhaps men are driven to stay in some cases due to the offspring. It could be that we have
an internal drive to prevent infanticide from happening in our absence. In nature a male
might kill off the young of another so that the female’s reproductive cycle would be able to
produce his progeny instead (Borries et al,2010).
 Amongst cultures where polyandry is seen men rarely take care of nonrelated children.
 Could this be part of the cause in American divorce rates? We have fairly few children per
household in a global perspective. If all the sex in the world fails to create offspring is the man’s
loyalty more readily lost?
 90% of birds practice monogamy, but in a variety of ways (Schuiling, 2003). They are:
 Staying together as mates for life.
 Finding one another for the mating season then disbanding.
 Staying together for one mating season then finding a new mate the next. This term is also called
serial monogamy.
Do you identify with one of these methods in particular when considering monogamy?

6. ECONOMIC
o Some say we were polygamous but then had to change our habits to keep
up with supply and demand. Civilization increased population density and
technology drove up demand for smarter people. Soon enough it was
more practical to condense ones family and supply more prosperous
children.
Cognitive Thinking
Socially Driven
o The Male Compromise Theory suggest wealthy men over time gave up polygyny to placate
the working man.
Ecologically Driven
o The Female Power Hypothesis states that women decided whether or not they would mate
with a “single” man or mate with an occupied male that has enough resources to benefit her
children regardless of other women he is also breeding with. Basically the amount of
resources available drives a females choice.
Kanazawa and Still, 1999

7. Certain behavioral traits can be important too.
Sometimes qualities like being narcissistic can be indicators of how likely a
person is to cheat in a relationship. Don’t forget to take into consideration
that often, it is more important how two people interact. The closer their
behaviors and personalities match up, the more likely they are to remain a
bonded pair (Joseph and Shimberg, 2010).
The human race has grown tremendously in the last
several thousand years. It should always be
understood that sometimes our culture can be at
odds with our own biology as well. It took us several
MILLION years just to be able to stand up. My
pancreas still hasn’t gotten used to jelly donuts but
that’s not going to keep me from buying them.

8. Animals and Monogamy – This is a video that,
while likely not endorsed by any scientific
community, sums up some views of
monogamy in nature.

9. References
Borries, C., Savini, T., & Koenig, A. (2011). Social monogamy and the threat of infanticide in
larger mammals. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 65, 685–693.
Josephs, L., & Shimberg, J. (2010). The dynamics of sexual fidelity: Personality style as a
reproductive strategy. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 27(3), 273-295
Kanazawa, S., & Still, M., (1999). Why monogamy? Social Forces, 78(1), 25-50.
Price, M. (1998). Monogamy. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 58(2), 239-241.
Schuiling, G. (2003). The benefit and the doubt: Why monogamy? Journal of Psychosomatic
Obstetrics and Gynecology, 24(1), 55-61.