The Search for Love in Human Evolution: Primate Social Bonds and a New Science of Emotion

Love defines the human experience but often defies scientific study. Biological anthropologists flirt with the topic of love by studying monogamy and affiliative relationships. The interest in monogamy, I argue, is misplaced. But the interest in affiliative relationships is productive and deserves greater theoretical and methodological innovation. Social bonds have been carefully described for decades by primatologists, but I suggest that we still lack conceptual clarity and the crucial data needed to distinguish them from other types of relationships. A deeper understanding of social bonds, and pair bonds in particular, will be possible through the application of new methods to study affective states, or “emotions,” in wild primates and other animals. By studying the emotions that underly various relationships, we will make progress toward answering prevailing questions about the origins and future of love, romance, and friendship.