Looking at the long history of humankind, women marrying and giving birth has significantly contributed to the development of humanity. In the case of women, it is known that giving birth increases brain size and intelligence. In men, marriage often reduces aggression and makes them more gentle. Without the effort to become gentler, the chances of being unable to leave behind offspring (their own genes) increase. By marrying, men naturally strive to form good social relationships. It can be said that humanity has built a superior position compared to other animals because of the increased intelligence of women and the gentleness of men. In a sense, only the women and men who have successfully created families, lived well within society, and left behind offspring can be considered the current successful individuals. Marriage is the “foundation” for improving social relationship skills. Conversely, people who are not good at social relationships often lack the perspective of how their words and actions are perceived by others.
Good encounters between men and women are important in terms of personality, but internal factors that deepen the relationship also seem to be crucial. If men and women can communicate smoothly with each other during their encounters, an environment conducive to deepening the relationship is created. Among brain hormones, oxytocin is the hormone most deeply related to social relationships. This hormone is also called the happiness hormone, and the higher the amount of its secretion, the better the social relationships can be maintained. During the dating period, if the secretion of oxytocin increases, the relationship is more likely to go well and lead to marriage. Oxytocin is also secreted through physical contact with close people. When people start dating and feel intimacy, the amount of oxytocin secretion increases rapidly, and this becomes one pattern for reaching the goal. A way to increase the success rate of reaching the goal may be to increase the secretion of oxytocin.
Helen Keller, who overcame the triple handicap of blindness, deafness, and muteness, was reportedly able to tell where a person had come from. She could tell whether they had been in the kitchen, the garden, or the hospital room. Humans have about 5 million olfactory cells that detect smells. The sense of smell is far more sensitive than the sense of taste. In one experiment, young men and women were divided into groups and asked to participate in various activities. Afterward, they were asked to smell the T-shirts they had been wearing. It was found that the female students perceived some smells as pleasant and others as unpleasant. They preferred the scent of male students with different genes from their own, and disliked the scent of male students with similar genes. It seems that smell can even play a role in facilitating encounters between men and women.
