154 ETHNOLOGY compared to Yanomamo or Tiv, may actually experience romantic love. We suspect that this is the case. However, until this is substantiated through further field research, it remains only a hypothesis CONCLUSION The fact that we are able to document the occurrence of romantic love in 88.5 per cent of the sampled cultures stands in direct contradiction to the popular idea that romantic love is essentially limited to or the product of Western culture Moreover, it suggests that romantic love constitutes a human universal, or at the least a near-universal The proposal that romantic love is a near-universal rests in part on subjective appraisal since there is no definitive boundary that marks near -universals.Brown ( 1991)suggests that a 95 per cent distribution might, by analogy with statistical tests of significance be a convenient marker of a near universal. Though our sample has less than a 95 per cent distribution of instances of romantic love, we have argued that the distribution is actually larger We furthermore concur with a position stated by Brown(1991: 44)that the distinction between universals and near-universals is often unimportant: "a near universal is universal enough If romantic love is a human universal, then it is important to explore its emic manifestations, within a variety of cultural settings. to date this has seldom been done(Abu-Lughod 1986; Cancian 1987), thus our understanding of the cross cultural variation in the styles of romantic expression is lacking At present there is no consensus concerning the relationship between cognition emotion, and behavior. romantic involvement is one sphere of human interaction that is in need of analysis. It is a project that will require the assistance of ethnographers who, in drawing a distinction between private experience and ultural expression of that experience, are able to enhance our understanding of the interplay between, on the one hand, the biopsychological factors that affect the perception of stimuli and, on the other, the culturally patterned attitudes that structure the framework for social action; thereby contributions will be made to anthropology's historical mission to study both the particular and the universal aspects of human experience NOTES 1. For their invaluable assistance or advice we thank: Harvey Bricker, Robert Carnero, Carol Ember Jan Finney, Nancy Flowers, Pat Gray, Ted Gragson, Elivin Hatch, Barry Hewlett, Nancy Mullenax Yolanda Murphy, william Oliver, Thomas Paladino, Hal Starratt, Doris Stone lizabeth Watts and for sharing his unpublished materials with us, Charles Lindholm 2. Thia definition is similar to the one used in previous studies which sought to account for the rise of romantic love as an ideological justification for marriage, is the standard definition used (x=.05 was between Sub-Saharan Africa and East Eurasia, We believe that this association is anomalous, resulting from biases in the ethnographic literature rather than reflecting real-world events BIBLIOGRAPHY bu-Lughod, L. Aries, P. 1962. Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. New York154 ETHNOLOGY compared to Yanomamo or Tiv, may actually experience romantic love. We suspect that this is the case. However, until this is substantiated through further field research, it remains only a hypothesis. CONCLUSION The fact that we are able to document the occurrence of romantic love in 88.5 per cent of the sampled cultures stands in direct contradiction to the popular idea that romantic love is essentially limited to or the product of Western culture. Moreover, it suggests that romantic love constitutes a human universal, or at the least a near-universal. The proposal that romantic love is a near-universal rests in part on subjective appraisal since there is no definitive boundary that marks near-universals. Brown (1991) suggests that a 95 per cent distribution might, by analogy with statistical tests of significance be a convenient marker of a near universal. Though our sample has less than a 95 per cent distribution of instances of romantic love, we have argued that the distribution is actually larger. We furthermore concur with a position stated by Brown (1991:44) that the distinction between universals and near-universals is often unimportant: "a near universal is universal enough." If romantic love is a human universal, then it is important to explore its emic manifestations, within a variety of cultural settings. To date, this has seldom been done (Abu-Lughod 1986; Cancian 1987), thus our understanding of the cross￾cultural variation in the styles of romantic expression is lacking. At present there is no consensus concerning the relationship between cognition, emotion, and behavior. Romantic involvement is one sphere of human interaction that is in need of analysis. It is a project that will require the assistance of ethnographers who, in drawing a distinction between private experience and cultural expression of that experience, are able to enhance our understanding of the interplay between, on the one hand, the biopsychological factors that affect the perception of stimuli and, on the other, the culturally patterned attitudes that structure the framework for social action; thereby contributions will be made to anthropology's historical mission to study both the particular and the universal aspects of human experience. NOTES 1. For their invaluable assistance or advice we thank: Harvey Bricker, Robert Carnerio, Carol Ember, Jan Finney, Nancy Flowers, Pat Gray, Ted Gragson, Elivin Hatch, Barry Hewlett, Nancy Mullenax, Yolanda Murphy, William Oliver, Thomas Paladino, Hal Starratt, Doris Stone, Elieabeth Watts and, for sharing his unpublished materials with us, Charles Lindholm. 2. This definition is similar to the one used in previous studies which sought to account for the rise of romantic love as an ideological justification for marriage, is the standard definition used by psychologists in their study of romantic love. 3. Out of all possible 2x2 combinations, the only significant association found using the chi-square test (x=.O5) was between Sub-Saharan Africa and East Eurasia. We believe that this association is anomalous, resulting from biases in the ethnographic literature rather than reflecting real-world events. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abu-Lughod, L. 1986. Veiled Sentiments. Berkeley. Aries, P. 1962. Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. New York