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Marriage

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Pair bonding; Long-term partnership

Definition

Marriage is a sociosexual and socially recognized bond of some duration between a man and a woman. This is the traditional definition of marriage, although other sociosexual partnerships may meet the criterion.

Introduction

An evolutionary model of marriage begins with recognition of the centrality of reproduction to the relationship. The economic benefits of marriage, such as economies of scale and specialization of labor, are essentially subordinate to reproduction; raising children is costly in terms of wealth and labor.

Marital behavior that maximizes reproductive success will be favored by natural selection. Marital behavior seems to have evolved in order to keep the parents together and available to raise their common offspring. Infants and children are highly dependent on their parents and develop better when raised by their biological parents than in most if not all other arrangements. This is true not only of infants but...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

    Glenn Weisfeld

  2. University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI, USA

    Carol Cronin Weisfeld

Authors
  1. Glenn Weisfeld
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  2. Carol Cronin Weisfeld
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Glenn Weisfeld or Carol Cronin Weisfeld .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Weisfeld, G., Weisfeld, C.C. (2016). Marriage. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_127-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_127-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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