Discussion Questions-- Week 13 (November 24th)


1. Is polygamy evolutionarily beneficial for women?

2. How do you think an anxiously attached woman might feel or act in a polygamist marriage?

3. Do you think it is realistically possible for a husband to be equally emotionally and financially committed to multiple wives?

4. What are some potential reasons why there hasn’t been much psychological research done on polygamy?

5. How might evolutionary needs of mating intersect with modern culture to explain non-customary polygamy?

6. In what ways or situations may nonmonogamy be functional and beneficial, not dysfunctional?  What types of people may embrace nonmonogamy?  

7. Can nonmonogamy work when one "partner" is less enthusiastic about the relationship structure than the other?

8. Swingers are able to "redefine" traditional relationship emotions such as jealousy and infidelity, to make them positive experiences. Are these new emotions all together?

9. It appears that swingers are better able to separate sex and emotion, especially in terms of infidelity, and have positied emotion above sex in terms of importance. Is there a certain "type" of person (in any relationship style) that is better able to separate the two? Is this a good, or adaptive ability?