Abstract
The effect of free mate choice on the relative magnitude of fitness benefits has been examined among various species. The majority of the data show significant fitness benefits of mating with partners of an individual’s own choice, highlighting elevated behavioral compatibility between partners with free mate choice. Similarities between humans and other species that benefit from free mate choice led us to hypothesize that it also confers reproductive benefits in Homo sapiens. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a study among three indigenous societies—the Tsimane’, Yali, and Bhotiya—who employ natural birth control. In all three samples, we compared the marriages arranged by parents with the non-arranged ones in terms of number of offspring. Here, we show that there were no significant relationships between type of marriage and the total number of alive children and number of dead children among the three sampled groups. The presented study is the first to date to examine the fitness benefits of free mate choice in humans. In discussion we present limitations of our research and discuss the possibility of love having a beneficial influence in terms of the number of offspring.
Highlights
The effect of free mate choice on the relative magnitude of fitness benefits has been examined among various species
The effects of free mate choice on the relative magnitude of fitness benefits have been examined among various species, including insects[1, 2], mammals[3,4,5], fish[6, 7], and birds[8,9,10]
Ihle et al.[12] suggested that because humans mate for life, and the male plays a significant role in raising offspring, Homo sapiens should show the fitness
Summary
The effect of free mate choice on the relative magnitude of fitness benefits has been examined among various species. Authors have suggested that one reason for the beneficial effects of free choice mating might be that these pairs are more compatible than arranged pairs In the latter case, both sexes invested less in reproduction (i.e., less positive response to within-pair courtship and less frequent copulatory behaviors) and showed poorer coordination in protecting offspring[12, 13]. Several authors have ascribed fitness benefits to the genetic rather than behavioral compatibility of freely chosen mate pairs[1, 3, 4, 11] They suggested that the best mate for any particular female/male may not be the best mate for another: in the context of immunorelated genes mate preferences may enhance offspring viability by disassortative mating. Ihle et al.[12] (and other authors commenting on his work19, 20) suggested that because humans mate for life (or long periods), and the male plays a significant role in raising offspring, Homo sapiens should show the fitness www.nature.com/scientificreports/
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