Ultimately, Lieberman and her co-authors plan to continue to test this potential mechanism, starting with people who do not have the ability to smell. "Another interesting thing to look at is what's going on in blind people or those who can't detect faces," she adds. If they also share these kin detection mechanisms, these evolutionary psychologists may have elucidated how our minds evolved specific mechanisms to keep us from breaking the family taboo--and why most cultures so strongly forbid it.
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Add CommentUnfortunately I do not remember the source of the following information:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn Kibbuzim boys and girls grow up together like so many siblings. Even without any blood relationship, they later show remarkable aversion to marry within the same Kibbuz.
Here the closeness during childhood appears to bring about the same effect as blood kinship.
It would be interesting to find out whether or not foster children and biological children of opposite gender have a tendency to avoid each as partners later on.
I know that in the German language there are interesting idioms for the desription of common social origin: It refers to "Stallgeruch" or "Nestgeruch" - which in literal translation would mean "smell of the same hutch" or "smell of the same nest".
It looks like common language is reflecting in an intuitive way - common wisdom, which is being corroborated now with scientic methodology.
This "rule" is not applicable to most animals. Beside, who was the Cain's wife?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe rule of avoiding incest does not work among animals. Take a look on the lion or babuin prides. By the way, the genealogy of the Tut's mather is very doubtful. And who was the Cain's wife?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe consequences of incest as well as the origin of the word should be deeply investigated by scientists of different specialization.