Finish
You must be registered to see attachments
You've got me. This is the thread for hypotheses, discussion, and comments. I'll start.
My basic hypothesis is that our Alpha or Omega social standing derives, like our gorilla and chimpanzee cousins, from our willingness to fight for the top rung of the hierarchy ladder. Prior to the development of pair bonding, in a world of Alpha control over breeding females, you have to ask how the omega personality survived. One possibility, of course, is that it is entirely acculturated and has no element of genetic contribution. Otherwise, the genetic contribution would have been bred out of the population, since, in theory, the Alpha male prevents any other male in the group from breeding with group females.
A second possibility is that Omega males could breed (and thereby preserve their genetic heritage) outside of the group. However, that seems unlikely since we are such highly social animals. Although other mammals do have periods (particularly post-pubescent) outside of a natal group before joining a long-term adult group, that model doesn't seem to exist among the apes.
A third possibility, and the one I favor and was hoping to find support for in the data from this survey, is that Omega males preserve their genetic heritage through cheating. That is, Alpha males
believe they are in control over group breeding, but Omega males find their way to breed with available females despite Alpha control. This model finds support in chimpanzee behaviour. My question is what would that mean in the context of sexual preferences, assuming that some element of this genetic heritage persists in a world of pair bonding.
A fourth possibility is that the genes for Alpha or Omega personality ride on the X chromosome and are preserved and passed on through the female. (I actually think this is also the case, in addition to the cheating hypothesis.) I don't believe this alone could preserve Omega personality without the Omega males re-contributing their genes back to their daughters, but I don't have the math or modelling skills to model this out.
Next time, my theories about how this impacts sexual kinks.