Chapter 3: The Evolution and Biology of Attraction
Attraction isn‘t logical.
You can‘t understand it just by thinking about what should rationally make
someone want to be with another person. Attraction only makes sense when
put into evolutionary, biological, psychological, and cultural perspectives.
To better understand attraction, we need to learn how and why it works.
I‘m going to use this chapter to explore attraction from the evolutionary and
biological perspectives.
You might think all this stuff is intellectual nonsense and doesn‘t really play
a role in attraction. Well, the mind is an amazing and vastly complicated
organ.
We each have literally hundreds of genetically determined drives,
unconscious cycles, and patterns inside of us, most of which operate without
our awareness. By studying twins reared apart, scientists have discovered
genes for everything from addictive behavior to being overweight to
homosexuality.
Although we would like to believe in having complete control of our own
destiny, we have to recognize all the hidden factors lying beneath our rational
mind so that we can truly understand our motivations and choices.
3.1 HOW ATTRACTION CAN BE ILLOGICAL
Since most of us think of ourselves as rational beings, we expect attraction
to be a logical concept. Well, the truth is that there are some surprising and
powerful non-rational forces at work here.
The Triune Brain
Dr. Paul McLean has an idea he calls ―The Triune Brain Theory‖.
It goes a little something like this...
The brain has developed gradually, but through stages which the ―Triune
Brain‖ theory usefully separates into three distinct phases... each of which has
been traced to a particular physical component of our brain. This theory also