Are there any rational explanations within an evolutionary perspective to explain adoption?

Question

By this I mean the adotion of children who are not related to the adopting family. Why? Also, considering evolution and the preference of one's own genes, if the adopting family already had child(ren) could they really treat the adopted child equally? I mean, talk is one thing, but do their actions really back it up? Have there been any anthropological studies to explore this?

Answer 1

As I found your question intriguing, I decided to try and find some answers to it:

Here is one very interesting article that I found...

http://www.jstor.org/view/00027294/ap020...

This one is similar...

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/anthro/CPIA/PAP...

Here is a disturbing webpage...

http://www.amfor.net/KillerAdopters/

I don't know what reason these people could have had to adopt that could have led to this!

I was hoping that you were wrong about adoptees not being treated as well... but it seems that you were quite correct in that assumption.  Here is another article that coroberates...

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/ar...

This page is blunt in its message and delivery!

http://terrilynnspencer.tripod.com/id2.h...

Well, I have read enough!

Answer 2

I don't know if there are any anthropological studies on this subject of adoption, but .... I would reason by my education, and life's travails that the explanation would be "love".

Agape is a force that is extremely powerful, it will guide and lead men and women to adopt one who needs it. That's the only explanation I would have to your question. We as a race will do it out of love.

Answer 3

Yes.

1)  MANY  species will adopt young, especially when their own young did not survive.

2)  Most adoptions in the past generally WERE within a single family.  People lived within small groups, and members of the clan were kin.

There are several good books on evolution and altruism from an anthropological perspective.

Answer 4

As an adoptee I can tell you that I was no less a part of my family then any other person.  Yes I was loved just as much as the other people.  Was I treated equally??  I wasn't treated the same as my 2 sibings that are biological children of my parents or the same as my biological sister who was adopted with me.  We are all very different people so my parents treated us differently based on who we are not how we entered into the family.  

As an adoptive mother I can say that while I opted to adopt instead of giving birth, I could not imagine loving another human being more then my daughter.  She is the love of my life.  And I can't imagine not having her in my life.  Love is not decided by the blood and genes that run through our bodies.  Love is about the committment and relationships that we have with people.  People have the ability to love people they are not biologically related to them -- marriage is a good example of that.

Answer 5

The DNA engineering is far more advanced than our current silicon chip technology. It not only adopts, it also designs new tricks.

Take a fire ant as an example, the "simple" creature has the instinct to attack and inject a poison. Just think how complex this chemical structure can be.

To make this even close to home, if you noticed when you wear a pair of new shoes, some areas on your feet will start to grow hardened callous. This is how nature's way to adopt and allow survival.

Adaptation in DNA engineering is real and one day we may be able to understand it. But certainly, not now.

Answer 6

very good question! as I am not aware of any specific studies I can only give a speculative opinion. in the so called lower animals  adoption only occurs when the adopted one is in the baby or dependent stage, so it most probably is the basic mother instinct. in pack or group animals (safety in numbers) it MAY relate to keeping the group at optimum size, in animals that depend on culture or learned traditions as in bonobos & us maybe it relates to species survival or survival of the groups traditions. I'll be watching the answers you get surely there have been studies done on this subject. its fascinating

Answer 7

Then all the more to honor such people for raising children not their " blood ".There seems to be a greater average tendency for abuse among foster relationships. ( normally distributed ) We are a small species and all share some genes. You see animals adopt, even not there own kind. Genetic tendencies are just that, probabilistic and subject to amelioration.

PS Evolutionary studies, by Daly and Wilson.