The breeding season for ungulates such as caribou and elk begins as soon as the weather starts to cool, signaling the beginning of their preparation for the coming winter. When they have children, the timing works out perfectly since they are born in the warmer temperatures of spring, when the blooming greenery gives their mothers an abundance of sustenance.
According to specific theories, it has been suggested that humans have a similar need – lone people look for warm bodies to snuggle up with during the chilly winter months. This tendency for some people to look for transitory partnerships in the fall or early winter is referred to as “cuffing season” because it occurs throughout this period. On the other hand, do humans behave similarly to some mammalian relatives? What does the scientific community have to say about cuffing season?
Surprisingly, little has been done.
In the words of Mr. Gary Lewandowski, a psychologist at Monmouth University in New Jersey and author of the book Relationship Science, “there is no actual scientific evidence on the subject at all.” This doesn’t mean, however, that cuffing season, according to him. “I couldn’t discover any evidence that it was anything but garbage.”
Tastes that Change with the Seasons
Even though it may well be a relationship tendency for some people, evidence of a general biological drive for cuffing season in humans is difficult to come across. However, some study unconventionally approaches the issue, at least in males.
Male attraction to females alters according to the seasons, according to a study published in the journal Perception in 2008. Researchers invited 114 men to score different characteristics of women throughout several seasons, presenting them the same images every few months. They received their responses in December. They compared the data and discovered that the participants scored the identical photographs differently depending on the time of year they took the survey.
According to Lewandowski, the study found that men were more likely to rate women as beautiful in the winter and less likely to consider them as appealing in the summer.
Hormones are another kind of indirect evidence. According to several studies, testosterone levels in males reach their highest point every year in October or November. However, according to research, serotonin, a hormone that helps improve our mood, is generated less in the winter than in the summer. “Serotonin levels drop throughout the winter months, resulting in a depressed mood. People may seek out connections to improve their mood when they are not feeling well,” Lewandowski explains, noting that the evidence is somewhat circumstantial.
Days in the cold but warm movies
Other indirect data suggests that lower temperatures increase a person’s desire for romantic encounters. Based on findings from a 2011 study, the colder the weather, the more people desired to watch romance films – and even demonstrated a readiness to spend more outstanding fees to do so.
According to the study’s authors, physical coldness triggers a desire for psychological warmth, which increases a person’s preference for romantic comedies, who published their findings in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Factors of a social nature
Humans are social animals, and the pressure of other people’s opinions may contribute to our decision to team up for the winter. There is a possibility that this is occurring because of the Christmas season when we are more likely to see relatives and old acquaintances with whom we have maintained relationships for decades. According to Lewandowski, “it might even be your mother, grandmother, or other members of your family [who] ask you, ‘Why haven’t you found a decent person to settle down with?'”
Getting Back to the Basics
Whether or not it’s cuffing season, humans are certainly not on the same level as caribou, which all synchronize their mating for females to calve at around the same time of year. However, this does not rule out the possibility that some genetic drive or instinct has survived from our remote evolutionary past.
As Lewandowski points out, “we don’t always give enough credit to the idea that we are animals.”
During times of extreme cold and huddled together for warmth, humans are no different than other animals. According to Lewandowski, something deep within our character may lead us to form more excellent attachments with others when resources are limited. According to him, “I can’t think of a single reason why that wouldn’t make sense.”
