Settling For A Mediocre Partner May Be Based On Survival Strategies

Tired of waiting on the perfect man? Evolution shows it's ok to settle instead of holding out.

"Primitive humans were likely forced to bet on whether or not they could find a better mate," Chris Adami, MSU professor of microbiology and molecular genetics and co-author of the paper, said in a news release. "They could either choose to mate with the first, potentially inferior, companion and risk inferior offspring, or they could wait for Mr. or Ms. Perfect to come around. If they chose to wait, they risk never mating."

Researchers at Michigan State University used a computational model to help measure various risk-taking behaviors that have occurred throughout generations, including life-altering decisions like choosing a mate or turning a potential partner down.

Furthermore, they determined a number of variables that could potentially influence the likelihood that such risk-taking behaviors might take place.

"We found that it is really the group size, not the total population size, which matters in the evolution of risk aversion," said Arend Hintze, an MSU research associate.

However, researcher noted a difference for some regarding risk factors.

"We do not all evolve to be the same," Adami concluded. "Evolution creates a diversity in our acceptance of risk, so you see some people who are more likely to take bigger risks than others. We see the same phenomenon in our simulations."

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Scientific Reports.