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Hi guys, one thing that we did not get to discuss in depth on tuesday were the articles that described the health benefits and risks of being in a relationship, namely of marraige.  The articles, though more pop-science, brought up an interesting topic in my mind that seems to play into the "evolutionary adaptiveness of love" that we spoke about a little on tuesday.  The articles seemed to express that on the whole it is advantageous, healthwise, to be in a relationship because this situation provides, if not directly then indirectly, more health benefits than being single (if not for the simple reason that two heads are better than one when it comes to recognizing illness and getting the motivation to treat it). 

The discussion about whether being in love or having a significant other is evolutionarily adaptive purely because of the reproductive aspect seems to tie in to this discussion of health benefits.  Although I do think that in the end, our emotions surrounding love for a partner at their base are tied to the need for sexual reproduction, it is not hard to imagine that the health benefits of being in a relationship could play a role in the evolutionary adaptiveness of love as well.  It may be that throughout time those of our ancestors that were able to commit to a long term relationship, possibly spurred on by the emotions tied to love, had better health outcomes. 

However, as I was thinking this idea through, an article that was presented in Wendy Sternberg's pain psychology class came to mind that, while not completely refuting this notion, at least brought its validity into question.  It seems that researchers found that patients with severe back pain actually had higher ratings of pain and more overt pain behavior when their spouse's were more "solicitous", meaning that they were more willing on a regular basis to dote on their wife or husband in pain.  It seems then that spouse's whose love for their partners spurrs them to (perhaps obsessively) monitor and aid their spouse's condition, actually makes things not better, but worse for their spouse.  It is hard to imagine how this kind of mechanism would make love evolutionarily adaptive.  Anyways, just thoughts to throw out there!  Good job Alex, Amelia and Stephanie!