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Michigan State researchers say people who settle in their personal relationships for someone less than perfect are often ahead of the evolutionary game.

(MLive file photo)

EAST LANSING -- Valentine's Day is right around the corner and you might be thinking this is the year you won't settle for anything less than Mr. Right or Ms. Perfect.

Well, evolutionary researchers at Michigan State University say that strategy is wrong and you should be looking for Mr. or Ms. OK.

Chris Adami, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, and Arend Hintze, a research associate at MSU, have determined that, really, you're better off settling.

"Primitive humans were likely forced to bet on whether or not they could find a better mate," Adami said in a statement. "They could either choose to mate with the first, potentially inferior, companion and risk inferior offspring, or they could wait for Mr. or Ms. Perfect to come around. If they choose to wait, they risk never mating."

Adami and Hintze used a computational model to trace risk-taking behaviors through thousands of generations of digital organisms. The researchers programmed the digital organisms to make decisions in a similar way that natural organisms, like humans, must make in real life.

It turns out that the digital organisms that lived in a smaller group -- less than 150-- were much more risk averse than those in a larger community. Primitive humans usually lived in groups about that size, which means that settling was a part of their nature.

"We found that it is really the group size, not the total population size, which matters in the evolution of risk aversion," Hintze said.

Now, you might be finding yourself thinking "No, I will find my soulmate and I will not settle for Joe Schmo who has been wanting to take me out for years." That can also be explained by evolution, Adami said.

There was not one single way of dealing with risk, he said.

"We do not all evolve to be the same," Adami said. "Evolution creates a diversity in our acceptance of risk, so you see some people who are more likely to take bigger risks than others. We see the same phenomenon in our simulations."

Still, the researchers say that if you don't settle for Joe Schmo, or Josephine Schmo as it were, you run the risk of never having children.

"An individual might hold out to find the perfect mate but runs the risk of coming up empty and leaving no progeny," Adami said. "Settling early for the sure bet gives you an evolutionary advantage, if living in a small group."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kyle Feldscher is the Capitol education and MSU reporter for MLive Media Group. Reach him via email at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter at @Kyle_Feldscher. Read more stories here.