It can't be this simple, because beta males, who you claim possess the one-itis gene, would not pass their genes to the next generation, therefore no one in this world today should have one-itis.

One hypothesis is that, although yes a beta takes care of a woman and her offspring, she is prone to having sex with him (he wouldn't stay if it was 100% sexless?), and therefore some of her offspring should be his, and would still contain the gene.

Another hypothesis is that one-itis is in ALL of us, and is triggered when an alpha turns beta, loses being lead in the pack, has harder times mating with women, and therefore resorts to the above case. I think this is probably more likely. You are not born alpha or beta, you can become one, and turn to the other at some point having lost a battle with other males, or lost mates for whatever reason. For example, you are born, become an alpha of your group because of your superior genes. You possess the one-itis gene, but it never triggers psychologically because you are in abundant supply of mating with females. At some point, you are overthrown by younger males, or lose an arm due to a bear fight, or whatever. Maybe you almost drown. You lose your status in some way, and become a beta male. One-itis kicks in, telling you "OK, you are down but not out. I'm going to let you enjoy taking care of another woman and her offspring because your chances of mating with multiple women are gone. In exchange, she will let you have sex with her, and more offspring can arise. The price you pay, using resources to take care of her family, is enough to warrant any chance of future offspring, since some is better than none." At some point the beta could turn into an alpha once again, lose the feelings (one-itis) towards his mate, and continue mating with multiple women. How many times have you seen famous actors leave their original wifes just when they made it big? Turning beta->alpha and vice versa happens, i believe one-itis is a survival trigger for when you turn alpha->beta.

Now, where is MY prize!!!

Yes I can understand your perspective and of course there is that part of science but it is about the feelings we get subconsciouly. When something is conscious we have the power to control it when it is subconscious we dont and I think oneitis is conscious.
I think just because mystery tries to explain everything by going back to the tribal way of living doesn't mean he is right OR that the method is right.. After all we are all evolved animals and in animal species monogammy is not common at all. As I just said I think oneitis is a conscious "procedure" (sorry for my poor vocabulary but english is not my native language) and not a trait that humans got along the way of evolution. Basically I think it's a lot of talk and overanalysis about something nobody can prove, since there isnt really a gene for oneitis.

The problem I see with that theory is that I can't see how it is, or ever could have been advantageous evolutionarily. It doesn't make sense that reverting to oneitus because you have just become beta is ever going to imporve you're chances of replicating/mating; completely the opposite in fact!

I'm theorizing that having one-itis causes a beta to have attachment to a female and her family, eventually being their provider and getting sex / more offspring later in return. It is MAJOR investment on the beta, don't get me wrong. In fact, he will forgo all other activities and opportunities to mate, just to provide for the woman. The reason I believe it is evolutionary advantageous is that his body is telling him, "you have no other shot to mate except for pulling every stop with this girl." She probably was beautiful before, so she would have good genes.

But it's just my theory. There are degrees of one-itis, this is the extreme though.

Wrong. Just because you think something consciously doesn't mean it isn't governed by subconscious factors. This is precisely why the argument that everything you do is pre-determined exists. In any situation I may consciously choose to do something, but my reasons for doing so are based upon who I am as a person, which in large part is based upon genetics and how the human psyche has developed as we evolved. I'm not going to argue this any more though because this is basic psychology and incredibly well proven and documented if you read scientific journals, so your basically arguing that the Earth is flat for all intensive purposes.

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"The 'Brick Walls' are there to allow you to prove how badly you want something!" ~ Randy Pausch

~ Rye

Just because a trait is passed down doesn't mean that isn't beneficial to the society at large and not the individual.

Let's take a look at wolves for an example. The Alpha males in the pack are the only ones who mate with the females and all the other males are Betas, relegated to care giving and providing for the pack. If the Alpha males only spawned other Alphas, then there would cease to be males with the Beta characteristic of being a caregiver. That's basically what oneitis equals in the theory I've proposed, thus it's perfectly founded based upon not only wolves, but many other species that have similar societal systems, including some species of apes, which are our closest relatives.

Human beings ARE animals, so there's no reason why traits that are common in animals are not common in humans, such as producing both Alpha and Beta males in order for society to function efficiently. I think that it's something that was incredibly important about 10 thousand years and more ago, back before agriculture changed how our societies functioned. 10 thousand years isn't enough time for genetic pre-dispositions and psychological traits to be weeded out of the gene-pool though, thus what was once an important trait that helped our societies function, now actually gets in the way.

I've got TONS of research by other people to back me up on these theories. I actually highly suggest checking out some of the materials I came up with this from because it will give you a much better understanding of why humans act the way they do and have the sexual practices they have. Check out Why Is Sex Fun? by Jared Diamond, it's not too long, but it's an outstanding book that changed the way I see people and helped give me the ability to figure out relationships between people merely by looking at them. Also, a great source of information is a series of 6 FREE video seminars by Johnny Soporno; you can download them all from here: http://www.worthyplayboys.com/philosoph ... oning.html. Johnny explains a lot of the reasons for oneitis and human societal roles in these videos and if you're going to debate this stuff I think these videos are an absolute must, as well as really helping to improve your game!

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"The 'Brick Walls' are there to allow you to prove how badly you want something!" ~ Randy Pausch

~ Rye