Proper hero dads and dark hero cads: Alternate mating strategies exemplified in British romantic literature

Contemporary literary research is generally not held to the standard of scientific responsibility. Although theories of human behavior in the sciences are adopted only after being supported by empirical testing, many literary researchers are not overly concerned with the empirical viability of the theories of behavior on which they base their work. Some appear to prefer one theory to another for subjective, political, or practical reasons. Many theories of behavior popular in contemporary literary research, such as Freudianism and Marxism, have been abandoned or have never been adopted in the human sciences because their premises are inconsistent with empirical evidence.1 It is the constant testing of scientific theories against the facts of the real world that leads to real, if often frustratingly slow, progress in the human sciences. Scientific progress is cumulative; scientists seek to continually enhance the accuracy of ideas and sophistication of understanding through empirical research. On the other hand, literary scholarship is not, for the most part, considered a cumulative discipline. But can it be? At the least, we propose that literary researchers could develop their theories of human cognition and behavior out of the best contemporary research on these subjects. At best, they could find ways of testing their interpretations of literary texts empirically. Because literary researchers are generally not trained in scientific methods and will continue not to be in the foreseeable future, it will be necessary for the time being for them to form partnerships with behavioral and social scientists (or to learn such methods themselves). Such collaborations are not useful only for literary researchers but also for behavioral and social scientists in that literature affords rich possibilities for testing and developing psychological theories. This article is the product of one such mutually productive collaboration. It provides an example of a scientifically grounded approach to literary study by empirically testing a specific literary interpretation that was, itself, derived from evolutionary theory on human sexuality.