An original study into the science of attraction among the English.
A young person on a Friday night dresses up and goes to town seeking a mate. They would argue that their choice of clothes and presentation are conscious. Decisions made in the light of current fashion trends and their own perception of what they look good in. In fact, the choices have already been made by nature. Biological programming by nature steers that young person as surely as the winds and tides steer a ship without a rudder. To understand these unconscious motivations one must review the role of humans as animals. All animals are programmed with the primary intention of helping the species to survive long-term. Long term survival of any species is accomplished through it's adaptation and development. A species adapts from one generation to the next through the mixing of genes. Breeding between many different partners. Nature programs all animals to encourage the combination of genes which are most likely to assist the species. Strong animals breed together and restrict the breeding of weaker animals. Creative and perceptive, but weak individuals covertly breed.
In this way both strength, and creativity are passed on. The notion of 'the survival of the fittest' is quite untrue. Speed, strength and mental ability all assist survival. Human animals are no different in their programming to any other species. They are as much victims to the primary directive of species survival as are the amoeba, the ant and the elephant. When two animals, be they human or otherwise, breed the parents pass on to the offspring characteristics from themselves. The offspring is then a mixture of characteristics from the parents. Human animals have an insatiable desire to pass on their characteristics. It is programmed into them just as it is with all animals. Certainly the human ability to think and to rationalise gives rise to conflicts between this animal desire and social acceptability, but the urge remains none-the-less.
To examine how the desire to satisfy this primary directive motivates humans in perhaps everything they do one must first review the basic roles of the sexes. The female human, like all female mammals is fertilised by the male and carries the young inside herself for a while before giving birth. Human' s give birth prematurely, as do all advanced animals. If the human mother was to carry her offspring until such time as it was capable of self sufficiency her gestation period would be in the region of twelve years, rather than nine months. Quite impossible, so the young is born early and dependant upon the mother, for she produces milk, for support. In a primitive society, a nursing mother is incapable of supporting her offspring and gathering food and shelter for herself. The human mother, like most other animals relies upon the support of a partner - usually the male father of the offspring - who will collect food, shelter and provide protection against predators. The two roles are quite clearly defined by nature: The female nurtures the offspring. The male provides for the female during the nurturing period With civilisation, the roles
become confused. A male may nurture the offspring once it has been born while the female support him. Two males or females may acquire an offspring and live together. But the basic situation is the same; two adults co-operating for the benefit of producing new offspring for the species. Gregarious co-operation with family units supporting single parents may also appear. But even in these circumstances responsibility for an offspring will be taken by one or two adults. Realising these basic roles of the two sexes one can see what each looks for in the other as a partner.
The female when seeking a male partner looks for the following characteristics: 1) Desirability by other females. This ensures that resultant offspring will also attractive and will have the maximum chance of spawning.
2) Fidelity. To ensure the maximum purity of the offspring.
3) Steadfastness. This ensures that the male will support her during the gestation period and while the offspring is dependant upon her. Otherwise, she and the offspring may not survive.
4) Mental ability. Mental ability is important to assist the species to develop.
5) Strength. Physical strength is necessary for the survival of both the offspring and the species.
6) Social Status. In an advanced society this may be realised as wealth. A perceived high social status implies success, which in turn inspires confidence in the off spring' s chances of survival.
The male human seeks the following from a female mate:
1) Desirability by other males. This ensures that resultant offspring will also attractive and will have the maximum chance of spawning.
2) Fidelity. To ensure the maximum purity of the offspring.
3) Steadfastness. This ensures that the female will provide and nourish the offspring ensuring its survival.
4) Mental ability. Mental ability is important to assist the species to develop.
5) Strength. Physical strength is necessary for the survival of both the offspring and the species.
Despite the desire for fidelity in our partner, mankind has also been programmed to spread our genes as far and wide as possible. This programming is responsible for the phases humans go through with our desires at times for 'older' and 'younger' partners, and also for ' exotic' or foreign partners. The problem of inbreeding has been taken care of with our variance in what humans find desirable. If all humans found the same attributes attractive in a person, the scope of reproduction would be severely limited. However, by programming humans to find different attributes more or less attractive, nature ensures a good spread of reproduction. Personality takes a part. Our programming to benefit the species leads one to resist personalities with attributes which do not consider beneficial to the species, and to bias towards personalities with attributes which are found beneficial. As with all animals, humans have a problem with finding a mate. Potential mates must be satisfied with our desirability. And while this can be circumscribed through force and deceit (rape or plying the mate with alcohol or drugs to numb the mind), generally humans preen and parade themselves as other animals do.
Humans embarrass attractiveness through covering our bodies with perfumes, clothes and paint. Males will appear successful through driving a suitable vehicle, or wearing suitable clothes. Suitable being items which trigger the notion of success in the potential mate's mind. The female human, being on the whole passive in the mate selection process, will display herself in front of potential mates to attract attention. She implies receptability through the display and emphasis of her erogenous regions. Homosexuality: While the divisions between the male and female sexes in humans is clearly defined biologically, psychologically the male and female sexes are confused, blended and fused. The advancement of the humananimal has been a partial result of the blending of psychological characteristics of parents in their offspring. Thus, all humans posses male and female characteristics in varying degrees, forming a shaded psyche rather than the clearly defined male/female roles
of less complex organisms. This may account for the comparatively large number of human homosexuals compared to other animals, and indeed observation and interviews with homosexual men over many years has led to the belief that male homosexuals are essentially of the male physical sex, but female mental sex, consisting of a much higher proportion of female psychological attributes than traditional men. Research Biological Programming In Human Sexual Relationships
The African hunting dog is a small, wild member of the dog family, Canidae. The single species, Lycaon pictus, is found in Africa south and east of the Sahara and is also known as the African wild dog or Capehuntingdog. The black-skinned, long-legged body weighs up to 23 kg and is covered with short, sparse fur in a wide range of black, yellow, and white patterns. The ears are large and rounded. Each paw has only four toes. The animal lives and travels in packs numbering from a few to more than 50 individuals. They sometimes range widely in their search for food. The dogs exhibit complex social patterns; both parents care for the young, who learn much about hunting and game-trail patterns from the older dogs in the pack. A large pack of dogs can bring down large animals, such as lions and antelopes. After a gestation period of about 70 days, six to eight young are born to a litter. Research African Hunting Dog
The bi-coloured white-toothed shrew (Crocidura leucodon) is a central European shrew recognisable by the clear delineation of greyish-brown upper body and yellowish-white underside. The tail is clearly bi-coloured and there are isolated, pale, long hairs on the tail and the rear of the body. The rostrum of the skull is shorter and deeper than that of the greater white-toothed shrew, and the uni-cuspid teeth are more crowded. It has large protuberant ears and two moults; one in autumn and one in spring. The bi-coloured white-toothed shrew lives in low, dry habitats, shrubby undergrowth, fringes of woods and gardens, compost heaps building a nest of fresh or dry grass in sheltered under-growth, avoiding damp. It feeds on invertebrates and breeds from March to October with a gestation period of 31 days followed by a litter averaging four young. Research Bi-Coloured White-Toothed Shrew
The Dog (Canis vulgaris) is a digitigrade, carnivorousanimal, forming the type of the genus Canis, which includes also the wolf, the jackal, and, as a sub-genus, the fox. The origin of the dog is a much-debated question, some considering the breed derived from the wolf, an opinion which is based on resemblances of structure, the susceptibility which the wolf shows of being domesticated, the fact of the two animals breeding together and producing fertile young, and the equality in the period of gestation. But all those points are subject to exceptions and reservations which make the matter doubtful. It is generally agreed that no trace of the dog is to be found in a primitive state, the dhole of India, and dingo of Australia being believed to be wild descendants from domesticated ancestors.
Several attempts to make a systematic classification of the varieties of dogs have been made but without much success, it being difficult in many cases to determine what are to be regarded as types, and what as merely mongrels and cross-breeds. Colonel Hamilton Smith divided dogs into six groups as follows: (1) Wolf-dogs, including the Newfoundland, Esquimaux, St Bernard, shepherd's dog, etc; (2) Watchdogs and Cattle-dogs, including the German boar-hound, the Danish dog, the matin dog, etc; (3) Greyhounds, the lurcher, Irish hound, etc; (4) Hounds, the bloodhound, staghound, foxhound, setter, pointer, spaniel, cocker, poodle, etc; (5) Cur-dogs, including the terrier and its allies; (6) Mastiffs, including the different kinds of mastiffs, bull-dog, pug-dog, etc.
Dogs have in the upper jaw six incisors, two strong curved canines, and six molars on each side, the first three, which are small and have cutting edges, being called false molars; in the lower jaw are six incisors, two canines, and on each side seven molars. The fore-feet have five toes, the hind-feet four or five; the claws are strong, blunt, and formed for digging, and are not retractile. The tail is generally long, and is curled upwards. The female has six to ten mammae; she goes with young nine weeks as a rule. The young are born blind, their eyes opening in ten to twelve days; their growth ceases at two years of age. The dog commonly lives about ten or twelve years, at the most twenty. Research Dog
The elephant is the two surviving species of the order proboscidea, the African elephant (Loxodonta) and the Asian elephant (Elephas) which are both very similar, except that the African elephant is generally slightly larger and has very large ears. The African elephant also differs from the Asian elephant in having a roughened trunk with two processes instead of one at the end, three rather than four nails on the hind foot, coarser molars with thicker enamel, a more convex forehead and relatively larger eyes.
Behaviourally the two species are very similar, except that the African elephant generally sleeps standing up. Perhaps the most striking feature of the elephants is the long prehensile trunk formed from the nose and upper lip. The trunk contains nasal passages and nostrils at the tip. Elephants are gregarious animals, travelling in herds of up to 100 animals, and inhabiting forests and grassy plains where they eat only plant matter, the African elephant rarely eating grass but preferring leaves, fruit and the inner bark of some trees. Elephants start breeding when about 15 or twenty years old, but are not fully grown until they are 25 and live to about 50 years of age. The gestation period is 20 months, and a single young or very rarely twins, is born with a cow giving birth to four or five young during her life. Research Elephant
Gestation is the period which elapses between the impregnation of any mammal and the birth of the offspring. Gestation varies from 25 days in the case of the mouse to 620 days for an elephant, with the normal human gestation lasting 270 days (9 months). Research Gestation
The greater white-toothed shrew, or house shrew (Crocidura russula) is a west European species of shrew recognisable by its white teeth white; rather narrow skull elongated in the uni-cuspid tooth region; three uni-cuspid teeth (the third being relatively large); gradual, blurred division between the reddish upper and paler underside; isolated long sparse hairs on the tail.
Greater white-toothed shrews are found in dry ground, grassland, the fringes of woods, gardens and hedges, commonly entering houses, farm outbuildings etc. The animals build a nest of dry grass (or man-made materials in houses) lined with leaves, situated under cover. Predominantly nocturnal, the greater white-toothed shrew feeds on insects and other invertebrates, very occasionally eating small vertebrates, such as lizards and young rodents. A fairly social animal, pairs form in the breeding season and are aggressive to other individuals; during winter, communal nests form, where up to six individuals sleep together. The breeding season lasts from February to November or October in colder areas, and the animals reach sexual maturity at about three months. After a gestation period of between 28 and 33 days a litter of between two and ten young is produced, there may be four or five litters in a year. Research Greater White-Toothed Shrew
The Jaguar (Panthera onca) is the largest and most powerful of the American members of the cat family, Felidae. The Jaguar is found as far north as Mexico and throughout South America, but it is especially abundant in the dense forests of Central America and Brazil. A mature jaguar is more than two metres long and stands 60 centimetres high at the shoulder. Its coat is a rich yellow, spotted with large black rosettes, each consisting of a circle of spots surrounding a central spot. The head and body are massive, and the legs are relatively short and thick. An adept climber and an excellent swimmer, the animal feeds on a wide range of arboreal, terrestrial, and aquatic animals. Although feared, it rarely attacks humans; in the pre-Columbian civilizations of Peru and Central America, it was worshiped as a god. Today the Jaguar is extensively hunted because of ranchers' claims that it attacks cattle, although studies indicate that such attacks are infrequent. In the tropical part of their range, Jaguars
appear to mate in any season, but elsewhere they mate during the latter part of the year. After a gestation period of about 100 days, the female bears two to four cubs, which reach maturity at about the age of two. The Jaguar has a life span of about 20 years. Research Jaguar
Kangaroo is the name of any marsupial of the family Macropodidae found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.
Kangaroos are plant-eaters and most live in groups. They are adapted to hopping, the vast majority of species having very large back legs and feet compared with the small forelimbs. The larger types can jump nine metres in a single bound. Most are nocturnal. Species vary from small rat kangaroos, only 30 centimetres long, through the medium-sized wallabies, to the large red and great grey kangaroos, which are the largest living marsupials. These may be 1.8 metres long with 1.1 metres tails. In New Guinea and North Queensland, tree kangaroos (Dendrolagus) occur. These have comparatively short hind limbs. The great grey kangaroo Macropus giganteus produces a single young (called a 'Joey') about two centimetres long after a very short gestation, usually in early summer. At birth the young kangaroo is too young even to suck. It remains in its mother's pouch, attached to a nipple which squirts milk into its mouth at intervals. It stays in the pouch, with excursions as it matures, for about 280 days. Research Kangaroo
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Biological Programming In Human Sexual Relationships
