There are two probable functions for kissing:
- A social ritual and sensory experience
- Humans engage in many socially programmed rituals which evoke responses of physical attraction or emotional bonding. For example:
- Society has developed many complex rituals associated with male or female gender roles. During dating and sex these rituals may be enacted to conform to the appropriate gender role and elicit attraction. However, many rituals have been associated with both genders in different cultures and subcultures. This suggests that each ritual is assigned to a social gender identity rather than a biological gender.
- An innate behaviour: mutual exploration of scent
- A scent could demonstrate good health to a partner. Human attraction is largely related to signs of health and fertility. For example:
- Greater symmetry is considered attractive.
- Higher levels of oestrogen or testosterone during development are associated with higher levels of feminisation or masculinisation.
- This exchange of information is may confer protection against co-sanguinity (inbreeding) and enhance the health of any potential offspring.
The evidence
- Studies have demonstrated that individuals who have grown up with a sibling tend to prefer the scent of a stranger over the scent of that relative.
- Individuals who have a mutual pheremone affinity usually have a significantly different collection of HLA genes. This could enhance the immunological toolkit of their children.
- Cranial nerve 0 appears to mediate pheremones and physical attraction.
No comments:
Post a Comment