Commitment. The very word can send shudders of fear down the spines of many men, leaving women to ponder why men can’t commit. The truth of the matter is his previous baggage may not be to blame. Women may be able to lay their man’s commitment issues at the feet of early man; those most commonly known as the caveman.
As the mysteries of brain are being revealed through scientific study it was discovered that the human brain contains two distinctive parts that can be described as the old brain and the new brain. The old brain, known scientifically as the limbic brain, is where basic human behaviors are controlled. These behaviors can best be described as pre-programmed behaviors that directly impact such things as eating, sleeping, pleasure and pain as well as the automatic systems like the respiratory and circulatory. The very survival of the human species has been dependant on the behaviors dictated by the old brain
The “new” brain, known as the neocortex, represents about two thirds of the human brain and it is the most recent part of the human brain to develop. This part of the brain is the center for reasoning, intelligence, self-awareness and conscience.
While studying drug and alcohol addiction researchers found that in the majority of cases, the instinctive behavior dictated by the old brain will always overcome the reasoning of the new brain. For example, a person can be able to rationalize that a behavior is wrong even though it brings feelings of pleasure but the old brain’s insistence for that pleasure sensation will override the reasoning.
The old brain instincts were honed at a time when man’s life expectancy was short and the need to procreate was key to the survival of our species. This survival instinct would have developed the need for early man to mate with as many women as possible without thought to commitment. It is this pre-programmed instinct that still lurks in modern-day man’s old brain.
Fast forward through the ages and find marriage introduced as a society norm. However, it’s not marriage as we think of it today. Marriage was originally not created as a way to ensure monogamy but as a way to bind families or nations together. Women became property and men still maintained their freedom to carry on with multiple women, as is still the custom in many countries today.
As mankind continued to develop and became more civilized, marriage took on a new dimension, a way of showing that each party was willing to bind themselves to other until death. At direct conflict to the pre-programmed instincts of the man’s old brain impulses.
This is not say at modern man can not overcome his prehistoric tendencies. There is enough evidence to show that new brain development continues in humans and that is can override the old brain instructs. But for some men who seem unwilling to commit, it may not be that he is unwilling but simply unable
