What’s in a kiss? A study by Oxford
University researchers suggests kissing
helps us size up potential partners and,
once in a relationship, may be a way of
getting a partner to stick around.
“Kissing in human sexual relationships is
incredibly prevalent in various forms
across just about every society and
culture,” says Rafael Wlodarski, the DPhil
student who carried out the research in
the Department of Experimental
Psychology at Oxford University. “Kissing
is seen in our closest primate relatives,
chimps and bonobos, but it is much less
intense and less commonly used.
“So here’s a human courtship behavior
which is incredibly widespread and
common and, in extent, is quite unique.
And we are still not exactly sure why it is
so widespread or what purpose it serves.”
To understand more, Rafael Wlodarski
and Professor Robin Dunbar set up an
online questionnaire in which over 900
adults answered questions about the
importance of kissing in both short-term
and long-term relationships.
Rafael Wlodarski explains: “There are
three main theories about the role that
kissing plays in sexual relationships: that
it somehow helps assess the genetic
quality of potential mates; that it is used
to increase arousal (to initiate sex for
example); and that it is useful in keeping
relationships together. We wanted to see
which of these theories held up under
closer scrutiny.”
The researchers report their findings in
two papers, one in the journal Archives of
Sexual Behavior and the second in the
journal Human Nature, both published by
Springer. They were funded by the
European Research Council.
The survey responses showed that women
rated kissing as generally more important
in relationships than men. Furthermore,
men and women who rated themselves as
being attractive, or who tended to have
more short-term relationships and casual
encounters, also rated kissing as being
more important.
In humans, as in all mammals, females
must invest more time than men in
having offspring — pregnancy takes nine
months and breast-feeding may take up
to several years. Previous studies have
shown women tend to be more selective
when initially choosing a partner. Men
and women who are more attractive, or
have more casual sex partners, have also
been found to be more selective in
choosing potential mates. As it is these
groups which tended to value kissing
more in their survey responses, it
suggests that kissing helps in assessing
potential mates.
It has been suggested previously that
kissing may allow people to
subconsciously assess a potential partner
through taste or smell, picking up on
biological cues for compatibility, genetic
fitness or general health.
“Mate choice and courtship in humans is
complex,” says Professor Robin Dunbar.
“It involves a series of periods of
assessments where people ask themselves
‘shall I carry on deeper into this
relationship?’ Initial attraction may
include facial, body and social cues. Then
assessments become more and more
intimate as we go deeper into the
courtship stages, and this is where kissing
comes in.”
He adds: “In choosing partners, we have
to deal with the ‘Jane Austen problem’:
How long do you wait for Mr Darcy to
come along when you can’t wait forever
and there may be lots of women waiting
just for him? At what point do you have to
compromise for the curate?
“What Jane Austen realised is that people
are extremely good at assessing where
they are in the ‘mating market’ and pitch
their demands accordingly. It depends
what kind of poker hand you’ve been
dealt. If you have a strong bidding hand,
you can afford to be much more
demanding and choosy when it comes to
prospective mates.
• Source: sciencedaily.com
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