Two: Liking/Loving Tendency

 

A newly hatched baby goose is programmed, through the economy of its genetic

program, to “love” and follow the first creature that is nice to it, which is

almost always its mother. But, if the mother goose is not present right after

the hatching, and a man is there instead, the gosling will “love” and follow the

man, who becomes a sort of substitute mother.

 

Somewhat similarly, a newly arrived human is “born to like and love” under the

normal andabnormal triggering outcomes for its kind. Perhaps the strongest

inborn tendency to love—ready to be triggered—is that of the human mother for

its child. On the other hand, the similar “child-loving” behavior of a mouse can

be eliminated by the deletion of a single gene, which suggests there is some

sort of triggering gene in a mother mouse as well as in a gosling.

 

Each child, like a gosling, will almost surely come to like and love, not only

as driven by its sexual nature, but also in social groups not limited to its

genetic or adoptive “family.” Current extremes of romantic love almost surely

did not occur in man’s remote past. Our early human ancestors were surely more

like apes triggered into mating in a pretty mundane fashion.

 

And what will a man naturally come to like and love, apart from his parent,

spouse and child? Well, he will like and love being liked and loved. And so many

a courtship competition will be won by a person displaying exceptional devotion,

and man will generally strive, lifelong, for the affection and approval of many