Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature

Psychology Today has a wonderful article that some people will dislike: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature.

"The implications of some of the ideas in this article may seem immoral, contrary to our ideals, or offensive. We state them because they are true, supported by documented scientific evidence. Like it or not, human nature is simply not politically correct."

So here they are, folks. Read 'em and weep. (These would have qualified nicely on the earlier dangerous ideas list.)

1. Men like blond bombshells (and women want to look like them). "Men who prefer to mate with blond women are unconsciously attempting to mate with younger (and hence, on average, healthier and more fecund) women."

2. Humans are naturally polygamous. "Polygamy creates greater fitness variance (the distance between the 'winners' and the 'losers' in the reproductive game) among males than among females because it allows a few males to monopolize all the females in the group... In societies where rich men are much richer than poor men, women (and their children) are better off sharing the few wealthy men."

3. Most women benefit from polygamy, while most men benefit from monogamy. "Women can share a wealthy man, but for most men who are not extremely desirable, polygamy means no wife at all, or, if they are lucky, a wife who is much less desirable than one they could get under monogamy."

4. Most suicide bombers are Muslim. "Muslim suicide bombing has nothing to do with Islam or the Quran (except for two lines). It has a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex... Islam tolerates polygamy and so creates shortages of available women and increases competitive pressure on men, especially young men of low status who have little to lose and much to gain compared with men who already have wives. Across all societies, polygamy makes men violent."

5. Having sons reduces the likelihood of divorce. "A man's mate value is largely determined by his wealth, status, and power—whereas a woman's is largely determined by her youth and physical attractiveness—and so the father has to make sure that his son will inherit his wealth, status, and power. In contrast, there is relatively little that a father (or mother) can do to keep a daughter youthful or make her more physically attractive."

6. Beautiful people have more daughters. Sound bizarre? The hypothesis has been documented around the globe. [Edit: This one may be wrong. See the link provided by Stephen Carlson in comments.]

7. What Bill Gates and Paul McCartney have in common with criminals. "Both crime and genius are expressions of young men's competitive desires."

8. The midlife crisis is a myth—sort of. "Many middle-aged men do go through midlife crises, but it's not because they are middle-aged. It's because their wives are. A man's midlife crisis is precipitated by his wife's imminent menopause and end of her reproductive career, and thus his renewed need to attract younger women."

9. It's natural for politicians to risk everything for an affair (but only if they're male). "Men strive to attain political power, consciously or unconsciously, in order to have reproductive access to a larger number of women. Reproductive access to women is the goal, political office but one means."

10. Men sexually harass women because they are not sexist. "The quid pro quo types of harassment are manifestations of men's greater desire for short-term casual sex and their willingness to use any available means to achieve that goal. Feminists often claim that sexual harassment is 'not about sex but about power', but it is both—men using power to get sex. 'To say that it is only about power makes no more sense than saying that bank robbery is only about guns, not about money.'... Men are not treating women differently from men—the definition of discrimination, under which sexual harassment legally falls—but the opposite: Men harass women precisely because they are not discriminating between men and women."

I think more people would be comfortable with this stuff if they could just keep science and morality distinct. What is biologically true has nothing to do with what is morally right. For instance, homosexuality is biologically unnatural (an objective truth), but there's nothing immoral about it (my subjective belief). Rape is perfectly natural, but (most would say) immoral. Polygamy is either moral or immoral depending on what groups of people you listen to. Sexual harassment isn't sexist (just the opposite) -- and it's certainly not "just about power", contra feminist wisdom -- but it's wrong in any case.

So don't worry if you're a deviant fellow who likes brunettes or redheads instead of blondes. (If you're a suicide bomber, on the other hand, you may have some problems.) Just because you're a deviant doesn't mean you're bad. The problem with the PC crowd is they don't like deviance labels; they don't like stereotypes; they can't accept that free will is overrated, and that we're largely slaves to nature; and they despise any scientific truths that oppose social morality.