Hello all,
Surely there's more advantage if we can instantly move on to another partner; as you're then more likely to breed, pass on genes etc...
Feeling down after a relationship break up can actually induce sexual dysfunction, hence decreasing the chances of you breeding further. It also induces stress and sometimes depression, which again, is never a good object really?
Thanks!
It's not necessarily an advantage, what is an virtue to humans is that they are social creatures and form attachments to one another. As a result of this when you loose another individual that you were socially attached to you overlook it.
If you were pressed to assign an advantage to it you might say that the hurt encourages you to hold on to your mate and not loose them to avoid the emotional pain.
Pair bonding is an important part of human evolution. It is related to the strong social bonding which is also a part of human evolution. The fact that we feel saddened at the loss of a loved one is what makes members of a group look after each other, and to avoid doing things that would drive others away.
This kind of bonding is especially strong between couples, who can form a closer bond within the social group. Again, this causes us to look out for each other, to do matters to try and build the bond and avoid things that might jeopardize the relationship. This has apparent evolutionary advantages as far as child-rearing. But my point is that it also has strong evolutionary advantages even if no children are involved. Two humans are a far better survival team (even within the larger group) than a unmarried individual on his own.
So when a twosome bond breaks, for whatever reason, the emotional result is sadness. This gives us incentive to try and make the next relationship hold.
That said, that probably doesn't help ease the pain much. (i've had enough to know that not much helps.
There is attachement theory, here is an exerpt:
an evolutionary standpoint, separation or loss of attachment can be perilous
to humans and animals alike, particularly early in life. Research is showing, however,
that attachment has profound effects at every stage of the life cycle. For example,
individuals in close relationships live longer and are healthier; loss of these ties is
associated with psychological and physiological disturbance, including susceptibility
to accidents and substance abuse (gilbert, 2001; Hazan Shaver, 1994; Konner,
1982 Some years ago, Brown (1982), in large community studies of depression in
women, found that women with close bonds were less prone to become depressed
after events that were known to increase the risk of depression. More recent brain
studies have augmented research on relationships by finding that social contact leads
to the release of opiods that in turn reduces the misery of separation... here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14982676
In social animals, pair-bonding and living in communities facilitates survival and health. Any separation by making you sick compels you to re-unite.
There is a object, it might appear a disadvantage but compare it to addiction - abstinence from addictive drug causes anxiety and depression. During relashionships you get endorphines in your brain that make you feel elated and happy. After a breakup your organism is being weaned from the pleasurable chemicals. In healthy non-psychotic individuals it makes them to get over and find another mate, attachment figure in contrast with anaffected dummies who are drifting from mate to mate never settling (extreme manifestations of this behavior are found in psychopaths and antisocial elements).
So, being depressed after break-up has evolutionary advantage unlike of being depressed from being separated from drugs although there is similar mechanisms envolved.
to get back in the world and try again to receive the good feeling back!