In the news today, scientists discover the monogamy gene.
Scientists “found that variation in a section of the gene called RS3 334 was linked to how men bond with their partners. Men can have none, one or two copies of the RS3 334 section, and the higher the number of copies, the worse men scored on a measure of pair bonding.
“Not only that, men with two copies of RS3 334 were more likely to be unmarried than men with one or none, and if they were married, they were twice as likely to have a marital crisis.”
“…RS3 334’s social effects extend beyond bonding in couples. Earlier this year, the same gene section was shown to affect signalling in people’s amygdalas, linked to trust. Another study found that people with autism, which is characterised by unusual social behaviour, often have multiple copies of RS3 334.”
So if you’re like me and content in a monogamous relationship, maybe you shouldn’t just chalk that up to good communication and compatibility.
You might just have your genes to thank.