Sat in on a colleagues lecture in Social Psychology on social conformity yesterday. It was quite interesting and spurred me to think. I'm of the opinion that having an instinct to social conformity is a huge survival advantage when our children are not born with the instincts necessary to survive in their environment and have to learn them from adults. If children have an instinct to conform, they will mimic adult behavior more quickly and gain the necessary skills for survival.
However, the same conformist instinct will count against the species when it faces circumstances in which adaptation to new environments needs to be accomplished. The species also needs to have a mechanism for non-conformity in order to adapt quickly to new circumstances.
So my speculation is that alternative sexualities serve this non-conformist function. Sexuality is such a core feature of our being, that non-heterosexuals are pushed towards non-conformity without choice, providing the species with an inbuilt advantage to a comparable primate species with no homosexuality.

If you look at places where heterosexuality is valued and homosexuality disparaged, they tend to be stable, relatively change-free traditional environments. (rural farming, tribal cultures etc). On the other hand, large cities with lots of innovation and change seem to be refuges for homosexuals where their non-conformity is relished.

Anyone read anything along these lines? In the extreme, the hypothesis might be tested by a comparison of rates of homosexuality in Homo Sapiens Sapiens versus Neanderthals given their relative success/failure.

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Seems a huge leap of faith inherent in that argument. Given the imposibility of determining homovshetero amongst an extinct species I see now way for a meaningful comparrison to be made. Also the assumption that traditional societies have no homo component might be countered by the other thread about peadophilia in Afghanistan.

- Peter.

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I've never seen it applied to sexuality, but I have seen similar logic applied to religion; along the lines that a propensity to accept outside authority tends to increase the chance of children surviving to adulthood. However, once people are adults they "invent" religion to fill that need.

I suspect that there are multiple "personality traits" other than sexual preference that would affect the individuals tendency to conform or not to conform. Is their any evidence that non-heterosexuals are more "non-conformist" in other aspects of their lives?

I'm not saying traditional societies don't have it. I'm saying conformity is most useful in those kinds of societies so nonconformity wouldn't be that important to survival.
I also don't think that comparion with Neanderthals is really possible. I'm really just speculating about the evolutionary benefits of conformity/nonconformity and ways in which that might play out in human biology. As a general rule, it seems that conformity is the best survival route, but complete conformity would be a drawback. So what biological mechanisms might play into this tension between conformity/noncnformity in our evolutionary history. it's not as if it's likely that non-conformity could exist as a certain percentage of humans surviving on h2so4 as opposed to h20 is possible. So where could tendencies to non-conformity to placed in human biology? Sexuality is a prettty good place. Homosexuality because it inhibits reproduction would be highly unlikely to end up as the majority so there would be a tendency to keep conformists as the majority. But if there is a biological mechanism for generating homosexuality, you would have a portion of the population that felt quite different than the majority, inducing a kind of forced non-conformity that might in the long term enhance adaptability.

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1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Are you familiar with the creative arts, like Theater?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Sounds like it was an interesting lecture to sit in on. Wish I had been there.

That's an interesting point, but I don't know if it's due to non-conformity or other social factors. It may simply be a case of individuals seeking an environment/peer group where they are more accepted. There are (apparently) plenty of gay flight attendants too, but that does not appear to be a particularly "creative" field.

Yes, the lecture was fascinating (although it didn't address these evolutionary issues that come to my mind). It presented an experiment in which people were faced with conformist pressures and how they behaved. One person was put in a room and asked to fill out a survey. Then smoke was pumped under the door to make it appear that there was a fire in an adjacent room. Subject became visibly disturbed and within 2 minutes took action to investigate and report the apparent fire. Same circumstances repeated except 15 other people were put in the room along with the subject and the additional people instructed to ignore the smoke. Subject became visibly disturbed in 2 minutes but took no action for 20 minutes, presumably because eveyone else was ignoring it.
Also showed some old Candid Camera clips. Subject is in an elevator facing the door. Additional people get on the elevator and face the back wall. If it's only 2 people, subject will continue to face the door. When 3 people face the back wall, subject will turn around and also face the back wall.

There were also images of the Supreme Court arrayed in their conformist black robes. Some of the pictures had the female justices wearing little frilly collars. Some didn't. I brought up the question of whether the fact that the majority of Justices are now Catholic, plays into the courts conformity or non-conformity.
The sexuality component came to my mind because the professor, who is a friend of mine, is about the most non-conformist lesbian you can imagine. She had asked the 'class' to reflect on what conditions conformity might be beneficial and it had occurred to me that conformity to a woman's expections might enhance a guy's chances of getting laid.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I do agree with you. Ben Franklin and Alan Turing spring to my mind as gay creative geniuses but whether or not homosexuality does induce a kind of nonconformist creativity in society is the issue I haven't thought about before, so it's exact mechanisms, if such a phenomena exists, are unknown to me.
So, what I'm really thinking is that if conformity is so essential in human education, yet we have become a species which has adapted to a variety of different environments which required divergence from previous practices, then there must be some biological mechanism which is a counterweight to the immense influence of conformity upon us. If it's not divergent sexuality, what is it?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

and now a word from the hermaphrodites.

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