Evolutionary Psychology: A beginner?s guide

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Why do young women prefer older men? And what makes us feel guilty about lying? In this concise and engaging introduction to evolutionary psychology, the authors demonstrate how this cutting-edge new science might hold the answers to the puzzles behind our motivations and desires. With penetrating insights into a wide range of topics they consider: The rules of attraction ? what makes men and womendesirable to each other? A ?gene for God?? could religion be a product of evolution? Selfishness and altruism - how did we come to be moral? Offering straightforward explanations of everything from the ?gene?s eye view? to the ?nature versus nurture? debate, this accessible guide also tackles the major controversies while assessing the potential of evolutionary psychology to make profound differences to the way we think about human nature.

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Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at and the author of a number of acclaimed works on psychology and science. Louise Barrett is Senior Lecturer at Liverpool University. John Lycett is Lecturer at Liverpool University. Table of Contents Why do we need Evolution? Darwin and the mind Genetic determinisim: the evolutionary red herring Darwin, genes and behaviour Disentangling the web What Evolution did for us Darwin and natural selection The ?Selfish Gene? as shorthand Altruism and the gene?s eye view Is the gene?s eye view too narrow? Niche Construction Theory The human revolution Origins of the human mind Genes, Development and Instinct Separating the inseparable A cook?s tour of interactionism Development and imprinting The little bundle of instincts Motherese and social smiles The paradox of language How to make us Human How babies learn about the world The eyes have it The cultural ratchet Mother knows best Let?s pretend Reading minds Choosing Mates The constraints of ancient biology The rose-tinted world Opening the bidding Real life?s the best of a bad job Honest cues Cryptic clues The dilemmas of parenthood The costs of reproduction A Darwinian paradox When boys and girls are not equal Born to rebel The social whirl Primate societies The social brain A very social mind Circles of intimacy Trust and reciprocity Deacon?s Paradox and the free-rider Language and Culture The Uniqueness of Human Being How and why language evolved When did language evolve? Darwin, genes and culture Intentionality, language and culture The uniqueness of human being Processses of cultural evolution Conformity bias and cultural change From models to the real world Cultural evolution with functional consequences Cultural evolution under neutral selection When memes go bad... Virtual Worlds The nature of religion Religion, ritual and the brain The story-teller?s art The role of shared worldviews Flights of fancy When did religion evolve? The Science of Morality The naturalistic fallacy Free-riders and the social contract Evolution?s mental firewalls Evolving an ethical sense Strong reciprocity and the prosocial ?instinct? Social embeddedness