Our Cheating Hearts by Robert Wright

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“Our Cheating Hearts” by Robert Wright was the most intriguing of the three articles, and it tried to enlighten the reader on the complex and sometimes confusing issue of human relationships. Wright is an evolutionary psychologist who feels that the brain like any other organ has changed throughout the evolution of time. Just as any other animal, a human’s main objective in life is to pass on our genes, and if we cannot do this with our significant other than many humans will deem cheating as a viable option. Wright does not encourage people to cheat but in the article it does seem that he regards cheating as almost the rational thing to do. As much as I do not want to agree with him I feel as though he makes a convincing argument. Wright looks at the issue in a scientific way and says cheating is a perfectly logical and justifiable behavior because the desire to pass on one's genes is the most basic component in nature and life. Therefore, what better way then to attempt reproduction as many times with as many mates as possible.
I agree with Wright’s contention that men are much more inclined to have a sexual fling than women and that men do not seem to consider intelligence as a factor when looking for a sex partner, but I feel that his argument is not as complete as it should be. I believe that in order to understand why some men and women cheat and some do not we first must understand the context in which their decisions are being made. Other external factors such as place of work and attractiveness of the male or female are factors that were never discussed. If a married man or women at a workplace works with a vast number of the opposite sex than he/she is obviously more prone to cheating. In addition, if a man or women is of above average attractiveness than I would surmise he/she is more susceptible to cheating because of opportunities being proposed. As much as it pains me to say I feel that most men and women if given the prospect would cheat on there significant others. I think the numbers are too low because cheating happens when chance meets opportunity, and a large number of times this does not happen. Simply put some men and women do not have the opportunity to cheat because there environment does not allow them to interact with the opposite sex or they are merely not desirable. I found it unusual to learn that when men cheat this does not...

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...ther or not I have reproduced? The student answered by answered, "Well, I guess that it doesn't matter at all." So it seems as though if the only purpose in life is to survive and reproduce, then is really an illusion. (High K, 200l)
It just doesn’t sit well with me by explaining an event by saying that genes for it existed, and were selected for it. So hypothetically, if the stock market drops, investors seeking an explanation in the newspapers may find a headline like this: “Selling Pressure Causes Stock Drop.” That doesn’t help, it simply re-describes the happening. I would want a reason why it dropped, or perhaps an Alan Greenspan speech. “Genes arose and were selected for” merely asserts that the phenomenon appeared, then became more common an adaptation.” (Against, 2001).
The rather new topic of Sociobiology has an impact of many disciplines beyond the realm of Psychology and Science. It seems as thought a Sociobiologist could explain any event in life by putting an evolutionary skew on it. Although I don’t agree with many of the main ideas within sociobiology it attempts to explain why groups of animals behave the way they do, and I do believe that is important.

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