I agree with Bill that people flirt because it's "fun"--but I agree with Robin, that
the reason that people find flirting "fun" is because it is an aid to finding high
quality mates.
>From what I've read, for the most part, women drive the courship process (1). Both
>male and females seek the highest quality mates they can get.(2) Women however,
>invest much more in their offspring than men do, so they have a much greater
>incentive to be picky about their mates. I think that one purpose flirting serves is
>to separate the verbally fluent, socially adept males from their clumsier brethren.
>Verbally fluent, socially adept males are more likely to succeed at forming
>alliances, avoiding punishment, and
otherwise moving up the local hierarchy, thereby securing more food, money, etc. for
the female's offspring. Ambiguity also allows the female to test the male with less
risk of direct conflict if she chooses not to go any further in the relationship.
(1) http://socpsych.lacollege.edu/flirting.html (Lay article from American Airlines
magazine about flirting research conducted by Dr. Marianne Moore in singles bars)
(2) I found David Buss's arguments about the evolutionary origins of human desire to
be quite compelling. I highly recommend his book _Evolution of Desire_ You can read
an interview with him at: http://www.clark.net/pub/ogas/evolution/INTERVIEW_buss.htm
(Interview with David M. Buss, author of Evolution of Desire) See also this Edge
interview with Geoffrey Milller: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/miller/index.html
Chris
