Eternal expectations

I pondered the idea of expectations again today, wondering if I tend to expect too much or too little out of any given situation. A question arose from this that made me wonder if the idea of expectations is a woman thing. Or, more to the point, are women naturally programmed to want more?

A friend of mine suggested that our expectations have evolved from what they once were. Cavewomen, for example, probably didn’t expect much in the way of compliments from their mate. “Glow of torch makes hair look pretty. Grug likes.”

So the modern woman has evolved. Over time we have learned to accomplish our own hunting and gathering and we primarily need a mate for companionship. And overtime that companionship evolves and, ideally, each mate learns from the other. But what if that doesn’t happen? What if, no matter how much work we put into our relationship, we end up lowering our expectations?

It happens all the time; with our jobs, with friendships, with family relationships, etc.. It happens when you’re on the verge of divorce and your spouse remembers that one special “something” that keeps you hanging in there for another year. Because of that one shining moment, we’re willing to forget all the bad ones.

What I want to know is, are we programmed to simply expect less from a person simply because we want companionship? OR…is expecting less another way in which we’ve evolved?