Publication details
Appreciating Culture in Human Mating and Parenting Research : The Reproductive Functions of Religious Systems
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| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Chapter in a book |
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| Description | Thanks to the extraordinary cumulative character of human culture, our biology is no longer shaped solely by genetic inheritance. By incorporating cultural factors, the study of human reproductive behaviour had become increasingly complex. This chapter introduces research into the effects of cultural technologies that help address biological problems, with focus on religion as one of such technologies. The authors investigate the fitness benefits of various religious practices in relation to mating strategies (including childbearing and childrearing) and examine various reproductive functions of religious systems under different socioecological conditions. Existing research suggests that religious beliefs and associated behaviours promote reproductive success by facilitating partner choice, courtship, strategies for forming and maintaining a family, and by increasing the investment in children. To illustrate this point, the chapter analyses two examples: first, cases where the religious system influences the reproductive dilemma of offspring quality/quantity payoffs and promotes alloparenting by enhancing trust among members of a religious group and second, where the religious system increases paternity certainty by restricting female sexuality, thus motivating the fathers to invest more in the offspring. |
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