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Sense and Nonsense

Evolutionary perspectives on human behaviour

Second Edition

Kevin N. Laland and Gillian Brown

A new edition of a highly successful and impartial monograph describing the range of evolutionary approaches that have been taken to understanding human behaviour
Widely adopted on UG and PG courses in psychology and evolution, the new edition has been revised to take this into account, now including key discussion points
Provides a synopsis of the ideas and methods behind five evolutionary approaches to the study of human behaviour (sociobiology, human behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology, cultural evolution, and gene-culture coevolution). Virtually all popular science books take the perspective of just one school. This book provides the reader with a pluralistic perspective.
Written in readable, non-technical style as a popular science book rather than academic textbook. Renders highly technical and mathematical works lively, accessible and entertaining.
The final chapter compares the different approaches, and assesses to what extent they are compatible. Reader is able to make judgements as to which approaches are the most proimising or useful, and to what extent they can be integrated.
The chapter on memes has been replaced by a more general chapter on cultural evolution, which captures important theoretical and empirical developments in the field.
More generally, the book has been updated, to take account of important research over the last 10 years
Revised taking account of its frequent use on UG and PG courses - now includes key questions and points for discussion

Sense and Nonsense

Evolutionary perspectives on human behaviour

Second Edition

Kevin N. Laland and Gillian Brown

Description

Evolutionary theory is one of the most wide-ranging and inspiring of scientific ideas. It offers a battery of methods that can be used to interpret human behaviour. But the legitimacy of this exercise is at the centre of a heated controversy that has raged for over a century. Many evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and psychologists are optimistic that evolutionary principles can be applied to human behaviour, and have offered evolutionary explanations for a wide range of human characteristics, such as homicide, religion and sex differences in behaviour. Others are sceptical of these interpretations. Moreover, researchers disagree as to the best ways to use evolution to explore humanity, and a number of schools have emerged.
Sense and Nonsense provides an introduction to the ideas, methods and findings of five such schools, namely, sociobiology, human behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology, cultural evolution, and gene-culture co-evolution. In this revised and updated edition of their successful monograph, Laland and Brown provide a balanced, rigorous analysis that scrutinizes both the evolutionary arguments and the allegations of the critics, carefully guiding the reader through the mire of confusing terminology, claim and counter-claim, and polemical statements. This readable and informative introductory book will be of use to undergraduate and postgraduate students (for example, in psychology, anthropology and zoology), to experts on one approach who would like to know more about the other perspectives, and to lay-persons interested in evolutionary explanations of human behaviour. Having completed this book, the reader should feel better placed to assess the legitimacy of claims made about human behaviour under the name of evolution, and to make judgements as to what is sense and what is nonsense.