Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior

Book Description

How do animals perceive the world, learn, remember, search for food or mates, and find their way around? Do any non-human animals count, imitate one another, use a language, or think as we do? What use is cognition in nature and how might it have evolved? Historically, research on such questions has been fragmented between psychology, where the emphasis has been on theoretical models and lab experiments, and biology, where studies focus on evolution and the adaptive use of perception, learning, and decision-making in the field. Cognition, Evolution and the Study of Behavior integrates research from psychology, behavioral ecology, and ethology in a wide-ranging synthesis of theory and research about animal cognition in the broadest sense, from species-specific adaptations in fish to cognitive mapping in rats and honeybees to theories of mind for chimpanzees. As a major contribution to the emerging discipline of comparative cognition, the book is an invaluable resource for all students and researchers in psychology, zoology, and behavioral neuroscience. It will also interest general readers curious about the details of how and why animals--including humans--process, retain, and use information as they do.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic.......2003-01-28

This was the required textbook for a class on Animal Intelligence at the University of Kansas. Contained various examples from a broad range of animal intelligence. Illustrated quite well how little we know about intelligence.

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Tons of Experiments on nonhuman animals and infants
Shaping minds
Not definitive.
too much "we'll never really know"
Subtitle should be how animals and human minds differ

Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think
Marc Hauser
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805056696

Amazon.com

What's that squirrel thinking as it runs across the street? Behavioral neuroscientist Marc D. Hauser asks big questions about little brains in Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think. While his subjects aren't accessible for interviews, he believes that we can gain insight into their interior lives by examining their behavior in the context of their social and physical environments. Thus, while comparing the actions of chimps, rats, honeybees, and human infants, he is careful to keep in mind that each of them has different needs that require different kinds of intelligence and emotion and ought not be judged by the same criteria. Looking at counting, mapmaking, self-understanding, deception, and other intelligent activities, Hauser shows that the birds and the bees have more on their minds than we've come to believe. Acknowledging the vast gulf of language that separates our species from all others, he still maintains that this tool is but one of many and is no better an indication of "superior" intelligence than is the bat's fantastically well-developed echolocation system. In the last chapter, Hauser looks at moral behavior and decides that animals can be "moral patients but not moral agents"--that is, their inability to attribute mental states to others keeps them blameless for their actions but their sensitivity to suffering earns them fair treatment from the rest of us. Whether or not you agree with that, you're sure to find Wild Minds a refreshing look at the thoughts of our mute cousins. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

Do animals think? Can they count? Do they have emotions? Do they feel anger, frustration, hurt, or sorrow? Are they bound by any moral code? At last, here is a book that provides authoritative answers to these long-standing questions. Most pop-science books tend to anthropomorphize and romanticize animals, presenting them as furry little humans or as creatures that cannot think or feel at all. Marc Hauser, an acclaimed scientist in the field of animal cognition, uses insights from evolutionary theory and cognitive science to examine animal thought without such biases or preconceptions. For example, do species that share food or travel in large groups have greater innate mathematical abilities? Hauser treats animals neither as machines devoid of feeling nor as extensions of humans, but as independent beings driven by their own complex impulses. In prose that is both elegant and edifying, Hauser describes his groundbreaking research in the field, leading his readers on what David Premack, author of The Mind of an Ape, calls "a masterful tour of the animal mind."

Customer Reviews:

Tons of Experiments on nonhuman animals and infants.......2006-02-24

This book is very nice to read. It discusses a myriad of experiments conducted on nonhuman animals, mainly chimpanzees, but also pigeons, insects, rats, among other animals. Each chapter discusses a different topic: math cognition, spatial reasoning, morality in aniamls, self-awareness, among others. One little thing I did not like about this book is that Dr. Hauser is overcritical of almost all experiments, even though those very arguments can be said about his own experiments! The book overall provides a lot of information about animal behavior--and mind.

Shaping minds.......2005-04-05

Studies of human cognition inevitably raise the question: "Are other animals 'conscious'?". This immediately leads to a more perplexing question: "What is consciousness?". With the concept still but vaguely defined in human terms, asking it of the other animals evokes a host of difficulties. Hauser, to his credit, makes a worthwhile attempt to deal with both questions. In this sweeping survey, he declares that simplistic approaches to how the various primates deal with life are misplaced. There is a range of animal awareness out there, shaped by the forces of natural selection. Each species must be studied carefully and intensively, both in controlled and wild conditions. And the work, he insists, has barely started.

He combines his field experience with the work of many researchers in revealing facets of consciousness. Hauser's study was stimulated by a young monkey giving him a hug. He calls these elements "mental tool kits". By this he explains that similar conditions generate similar responses in the animal. This suggests there are probably areas in the brain common across many species. When conditions change, however, the response may vary wildly, indicating dissimilarity in capacity. A startling contrast is the range of food storage sites among different species. A dog may bury a bone in the garden, but a Clark's Nutcracker can stash up to thirty thousand seeds in six thousand locations - and find most of them the following Spring. Hauser calls this ability "cognitive mapping" - a special talent derived over long evolutionary time. Other animals have the role of "space travelers", although Clark's must hold some kind of record.

"Self-awareness" is an all-encompassing term. In the largest and most significant part of the book, Hauser dodges the vague, but common, phrase, replacing it with "self-recognition". This term is a more measurable aspect of cognition. Experiments with mirrors demonstrate that some primates know who they're looking at, while others see intruders or remain indifferent. Strangely, some birds seem to recognise themselves in reflected images. Expressing self-awareness means communicating. For us, that's done with speech or writing. With other creatures, other forms of expression must be inferred from observation. Deception is a commonly used test. An animal aware of itself, and aware of others as well, is likely to derive the other's intent. When another's intention can be directed, and the deceiver gains from that guiding, individuality seems enhanced. How far we can take such analyses is one of Hauser's calls for more research.

Language and thought are far too closely aligned in the minds of most researchers, Hauser believes. That link restricts "real" thoughts to those that can express them in words - in short, only humans. Hauser counters that thought is something we can interpret from actions - and the greater the variance in action, the better. He looks back at our evolutionary beginnings through the eyes of today's primates. Thought, he argues was there - language was a gloss that came later. The implication is that researchers need to try fresh approaches to studying how "wild minds" can be better understood. The result is the growth of a new discipline, cognitive ethology which encompasses a wide range of species who have, or might possess, thoughts we can identify. This book is a major step in furthering that new field. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Not definitive........2004-12-28

This is a report of ongoing studies, by many in different fields, of whether animals experience "moral emotions, feelings such as guilt, shame and embarrassment", if they're capable of inhibiting their own desires, if they "understand the impact of their" decisions, etc. I'm not sure how objective Mr. Hauser is however as, to me, he seems determined to have his opinion prevail as I can't recall one study he's accepted as valid. I'm sorry too that the studies are not definitive.

too much "we'll never really know".......2003-07-08

His style is a little flat: a scientist writing for popular audience and trying really hard not to talk down. But he organizes the subject really well and clearly, with chapters on tools, numbers, spatial navegation, sense of self, language, moral reasoning. Each one synthesizes a large amount of scientific research on both animals and children, with interesting anecdotes.

The preface makes it clear he's writing against sentimental popular books on the subject that treat animal as being like humans inside, and themselves attack "the scientists." But this book gives a dreary image of the scientists. Each chapter describes some amazing abilities of different animals, describes some exhausting, repetitive experiments to document (it often seems) a small part of what was already suspected, and then concludes that as to the most important part -- "what animals really think" -- science doesn't know. But (drearily), they probably aren't conscious.

He should be clearer than he is in summarizing what the experiments have shown, and in particular about the differences in cognitive performance (not "real thought") btw adult and infant humans, primates (his main interest), birds (who get less attention), rats (still less), and social insects (who make a few star turns).

Subtitle should be how animals and human minds differ.......2003-01-16

Hauser has written a remarkably accessible introduction to comparative psychology. While containing the main points one might expect in a textbook outline, he does an excellent job of presenting this information in an interesting narrative form.

Hauser begins with an introductory chapter that presents his basic approach and cautions against anthropomorphisms.

Chapters two through four comprise a unit that focuses on those mental capacities shared by animals and human beings. Both can identify objects and predict their movement. Both can distinguish quantity. Both can navigate through space. Perhaps it takes a course in cognitive psychology to appreciate these commonalities, but I believe that Hauser does an excellent job of presenting research results for lay consumption. His presentation of animal and human infant studies of the expectancy-violation principle is alone worth the cost of the book.

The second section, chapters five through seven, focus on mental capacities which seem to be qualitatively common in animals and humans, but quantitatively distinct. Hauser presents a well-balanced account of the evidence for self-awareness, teaching, and deception among animals.

The final section contains two chapters on mental capacities that appear to be almost unique to human beings - language and morality. Hauser's careful review of animal communication is amazing, as is his locus of morality in the ability to inhibit selfish tendencies to maintain social conventions.

Book Description

This unique book helps readers understand why cognitive psychologists approach problems as they do. It explains the questions cognitive psychologists ask, gives clear answers, and provides interesting, lively and comprehensive coverage of controversies in the field. This book is a study of cognition: of how humans think. Topics covered include visual perception, attention, sensory and primary memory, memory encoding, memory retrieval, memory storage, motor control, visual imagery, decision making and deductive reasoning, problem solving, and language. For readers that are interested in understanding the mysteries of cognition, including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and those in the field of cognitive neuroscience.

Customer Reviews:

An adequate text.......2004-11-19

I used the Willingham text for my cognition course. At first I was delighted to find an author who attempted to frame the content of cognitive psychology as simple questions, devoid of jargon, the importance of which could be easily grasped by students. As the semester went on however, I found that the students found the text tedious and confusing. I feel that this was due to the lack of explicitly connecting the specific concepts back to the general theme of the chapter. Furthermore, his descriptions of certain experiments were outright confusing and ambiguously described, even to me. I think the approach is admirable- but the goal hasnt been reached yet. I look forward to the next edition, and hope I can once again use the text.

The Easiest to Read and Understand Required Text Ever!.......2004-04-27

If you actually have interest in the subject - this book is very easy to follow and understand. There are great 'real-life' examples for everything and questions (with answers in the back) at the end of every section so you can test yourself. The writing style is pretty casual (which is what separates it from many other books on the topic) and I also noticed a few minor spelling and grammatical errors - but nothing that disrupts the reading or understanding, provided your reading level is at or above 5th grade.

Outstanding cognitive psychology textbook.......2003-12-13

Before selecting a textbook for my cognitive psychology course, I read sections of many of the textbooks available. The Willingham textbook was by far the most readable and engaging. The students' evaluations confirmed my opinion; the vast majority loved the book. I had the same result in two different semester with about 100 students per semester. I'm using the second edition next semester.

Good, for a text book.......2003-04-07

Most psychology text books I've had to read have been a pain, but I found this one pretty easy to read and understand. (I think maybe the guys from UVA with the prof. that wrote this book must have a personal agenda...) But, that's just my opinion. Not that most of us have a choice in reading text books...

Really Bad Book.......2003-01-20

I wanted to learn about this subject and took the class from the author of the book at UVa. He's a pretty good professor but a terrible author of books. there are many usuage/grammatical mistakes in the book and its extremely hard to read. Doesnt make much sense and is highly not recommended.

The Evolution of Communication (Bradford Books)

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EOC -- Brings Animal Cognition to the forefront.

The Evolution of Communication (Bradford Books)
Marc D. Hauser
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0262581558

Book Description

Bound to become a classic and to stimulate debate and research, The Evolution of Communication looks at species in their natural environments as a way to begin to understand what the real units of analysis of communicating systems are, using arguments about design and function to illuminate both the origin and subsequent evolution of each system. It lights the way for a research program that seriously addresses the problem of how communication systems, including language, have been designed over the course of evolution.

Customer Reviews:

EOC -- Brings Animal Cognition to the forefront........2000-03-30

The Evolution of Communication gives a distintive opinion of evolutionary psychology, animal cognition, and cognitive neuroscience. Easy to read and understand, many of the hypotheses and comments of Marc Hauser are now being applied to larger academic issues, such as the "concept acquisition" problem in philosophy. The strengths of this book lie in its overarching predictions, and the supplemental and thorough examples.

The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots

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Alex the african grey! The Alex Studies by Dr Irene Pepperberg
Schooling psittacines
Brilliant work
Thanks!
Excellent information, but ridiculously tough to read

The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots
Irene Maxine Pepperberg
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 067400051X

Amazon.com

When Irene Pepperberg, a professor at the University of Arizona, says goodnight, she typically hears the reply "Bye. I'm gonna go eat dinner. I'll see you tomorrow." Though the response itself is not unusual, the source is, for it comes from Alex, a gray parrot, Pepperberg's main research subject for the past 22 years. That parrots can talk is well known; what Pepperberg set out to study was their cognitive abilities. By teaching the bird the meaning--not just the sound--of words in order to communicate, she hoped to discover how his brain worked. She exhaustively details her fascinating results in The Alex Studies.

Pepperberg bought Alex--a parrot of average intelligence and without lofty pedigree or training--from a pet store when he was 1. Since working with Pepperberg, he has developed a 100-word vocabulary and can identify 50 different objects, recognizing quantities up to six, distinguishing seven colors and five shapes, and understanding the difference between big and small, same and different, over and under. He can tell you, for instance, that corn is yellow even if there is no corn in view, as well as correctly select the square object among various shapes and identify it verbally. What this all means, stresses Pepperberg, is that Alex is not merely parroting but actually thinking; he bases answers on reason rather than instinct or mimicry.

Though the anecdotes are rich and Alex makes a lively subject, this is principally a research paper relying on intricate details and a prodigious amount of data (the notes and references alone run to 79 pages). This is not light reading, particularly for the layperson. Still, The Alex Studies manages to be more than a valuable contribution to science, for in providing ample evidence of our similarities to other creatures, the book ultimately calls into question the concept of human supremacy over the animal kingdom. Pepperberg's stated goal is "to provoke awareness in humans that animals have capacities that are far greater than we were once led to expect, and to remind us that all we need to examine these capacities are some enlightened research tools." She has provided such tools in this seminal work. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

Can a parrot understand complex concepts and mean what it says? Since the early 1900s, most studies on animal-human communication have focused on great apes and a few cetacean species. Birds were rarely used in similar studies on the grounds that they were merely talented mimics--that they were, after all, "birdbrains." Experiments performed primarily on pigeons in Skinner boxes demonstrated capacities inferior to those of mammals; these results were thought to reflect the capacities of all birds, despite evidence suggesting that species such as jays, crows, and parrots might be capable of more impressive cognitive feats.

Twenty years ago Irene Pepperberg set out to discover whether the results of the pigeon studies necessarily meant that other birds--particularly the large-brained, highly social parrots--were incapable of mastering complex cognitive concepts and the rudiments of referential speech. Her investigation and the bird at its center--a male Grey parrot named Alex--have since become almost as well known as their primate equivalents and no less a subject of fierce debate in the field of animal cognition. This book represents the long-awaited synthesis of the studies constituting one of the landmark experiments in modern comparative psychology.

Customer Reviews:

Alex the african grey! The Alex Studies by Dr Irene Pepperberg.......2007-10-10

This is a great book about how Alex came to be and how he became so smart. Dr Irene Pepperberg chose Alex as a young parrot and began teaching him language and to associate words with objects. Alex became very smart and could hold a pretty decent conversation. This book shows just how intelligent parrots are and they are more than just pets, they are our lifelong companions. The Alex Studies is an excellent read, I reccomend this book highly.

Schooling psittacines.......2007-08-16

What can a bird learn? Irene Pepperberg set out to find out. As with children, the best way to assess what has been learnt is to ask. Primarily for that reason, she chose birds capable of forming human words. An African Grey parrot, who she dubbed Alex [Avian Learning EXperiment], became the subject of her investigations. Earlier efforts in laboratories were unsatisfactory. Why should Mynahs, reputedly excellent mimics, fail to learn speech in laboratory conditions? When in homes with several people providing input, they chatter endlessly, almost to distraction. The solution, Pepperberg decided, was the intense social environment. To that end, she developed a training method that produced astonishing results.

This book thoroughly documents the author's methods and results, providing a fascinating account of the cognitive abilities of at least one psittacine species, the Grey Parrot. Incorporating a technique she calls M/R - for Model/Rival, Pepperberg would "teach" an assistant what she wished Alex to learn. The bird observed this, then was encouraged to emulate the learning experience. This meant the bird had to understand what was to be learned and use its innate abilities to achieve it. Speech was the first lessons, but things moved well beyond simple words quickly. Shapes, colours and materials were the next level, with Alex discriminating among them both singly and in groupings. The object was to understand what Alex could comprehend and act on. Alex also learned to differentiate - "larger", or "different" or, most significantly for a bird - "abscence". He could note when something was missing, naming the missing object. The method resulted in Alex's expressing his own needs and wants, even ending a training session by declaring he wished to quit.

Pepperberg's research findings are in direct contradiction to past scientific efforts. The book is therefore richly detailed with the methods used and was information was obtained. There are photographs of test object layouts, even stills from X-ray videos of how Alex forms his speech. She is clearly challenging the received wisdom of established opinion. She's careful to avoid terms like "consciousness" or even "intelligence", although the latter comes in for some discussion late in the book. She finds only one example of Alex's communication she thinks can be deemed "creative". Much more important, in her view, is that we need to understand previously under-evaluated cognitive capabilities in parrots. They are a long-lived and social species, conditions which lead to interaction among individuals and reinforced learning. Social interaction, combined with carefully devised teaching methods are essential to proper learning, whether with children, other primates or psittacines. The capacity is there, and we need to recognise it. The Alex studies clearly demonstrate that at least these psittacines are capable of far more than the simply mimicry we've long attributed to them. Human primacy in learning, once considered fundamental to our place in Nature, is clearly at an end.

Pepperberg's narrative is thoroughly detailed and supported by an equally thorough bibliography. The reading may be a bit of a slog for the novice reader. The citation method breaks up sentences, a common technique with ethography studies, but cumbersome to cope with. The method is in line with her concern for academic acceptance. She excuses the approach as not desiring "to overwhelm readers with facts and figures" [although there are still plenty of those] but to encourage an enlarged sensitivity to the abilities of non-human species. She has certainly accomplished that task, and admirably. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Brilliant work.......2007-04-13

The importance of Dr. Irene Pepperberg's work is much wider reaching than just talking parrots. This book chronicles the amazing studies she has done with Alex, her African Grey parrot in cognition and language acquistion. Discovering that Grey parrots have such abilities should make the threat to their habitat and the horror of illegal smuggling of these intelligent birds much more pressing and urgent to the public. That Dr. Pepperberg's techniques can also be applied to assisting children with learning difficulties adds to the benefits of these unique and startling discoveries. If you are interested in animal intelligence, especially if you have a Grey at home, you will be amazed by this book.

Thanks!.......2007-01-20

The book was in great condition and it arrived promptly. The price was also great- I've seen it for more than twice as much more elsewhere. Thanks for the pleasant transaction!

Excellent information, but ridiculously tough to read.......2005-03-08

The work that Irene Pepperberg and Alex have done is incredible, and this book would be fascinating if the "Notes" were included in the text and the references were footnoted at the end of the book or at the bottom of the page. While the use of APA style substantiates the credibiltiy of her research and increases the book's value as an intellectual property, it is difficult to find a complete sentence without multiple references cited in parentheses scattered throughout. This makes the normal "flow" of reading almost impossible, and unnecessarily compromises both enjoyment and ease of comprehension. Definitely read this book if you're interested, but keep the aspirin close for the headache you're bound to get while trying to sort out the legitimate text from the references.

Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Reflections on Redecorating Nature (Animals Culture And Society)

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Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Reflections on Redecorating Nature (Animals Culture And Society)
Marc Bekoff
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1592133487

Book Description

What is it really like to be a dog? Do animals experience emotions like pleasure, joy, and grief? Marc Bekoff's work draws world-wide attention for its originality and its probing into what animals think about and know as well as what they feel, what physical and mental skills they use to live successfully within their social community. Bekoff's work, whether addressed to scientists or the general public, demonstrates that investigations into animal thought, emotions, self-awareness, behavioral ecology, and conservation biology can be compassionate as well as scientifically rigorous.

Customer Reviews:

What psychology is all about........2000-05-11

Donahoe and Palmer's book represents the Holy Grail of psychology, a rigorous and empirically sound explanation of how human behavior is shaped by experience and the actual neural processes that translate and shape that experience. Integrating the separate methodologies of operant and classical conditioning (behaviorism), cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and neuropsychology, D&P have created a synthetic explanation of how human behavior derives from the complex interplay of informative (i.e., environmental) and neuro-biological events. This bio-behavioral approach is behavioristic because it focuses on how information (or environmental contingencies) may be mapped to behavior, but it notably expands behavioristic doctrine by demonstrating that overt behavior is but one aspect of a bio-behavioral system that includes not just overt but covert (neural) behavior.

D&P's signal accomplishment is their unified principle of reinforcement. Common sense, as well as traditional behavioristic doctrine tells us that behavior occurs because it is either metaphorically pulled from (as in a conditioned reflex like salivation)or is 'glued' to us (as when we receive a monetary reward for a job well done). Similarly, humanistic and social psychology demarcate motivational processes into intrinsic and extrinsic components that are also ultimately derived from the premise that behavior is governed by two response systems. D&P demolish this well established conception, and demonstrate that all learning derives from unitary reinforcement processes that employ near identical neo-cortical and midbrain structures. Reinforcement according to D&P occus when the environmental control of behavior changes, or in other words, when we perceive some discrepancy in our behavior that demands a shifting of attention. On the neural level, this discrepancy is marked by the release of the neuromodulator dopamine that increases synaptic or neural efficacy. D&P's discrepancy model of reinforcement depicts reinforcement as a change in an environmental-behavior relationship that may or may not engage overt behavior. In other words, reinforcement occurs virtually when changes in environmental-behavior relationships are modeled in the brain. Put most simply, we are reinforced when we consider behavioral discrepancies that represent in turn the changing possibilities of existence. In a poetic sense, maxmimized reinforcement occurs when we maximize our hopes and dreams. If happiness is presumed to be maximizing the reinforcers in our lives, and if reinforcers are virtual, not real, then the role model for the happy life is not a bored Charles Foster Kane in his art filled Gothic mausoleum, but a penniless Shakespeare in Love. In an intellectual world increasingly challenged by the intellectual trendiness of selfish genes and conspicuous conception, it is refreshing that the implications of empirical psychology need not always be banal.

But do D&B reach this rather evident conclusion? Unfortunately, they derive no practical or philosophical conclusions whatsoever from their thesis. Despite the revolutionary implications of D&P's analysis, their perspective stays rooted in just the facts. The book is dryly academic in tone(understandable, for this is a textbook), and in spite of a liberal inclusion of 'Far Side' cartoons, it is not an easy book to read. The biggest problem however is their neglect of the 'qualia' or subjective aspects of experience. Reading 'Learning and Complex Behavior' is like reading a medical text explaining in great detail the processes that underlie human biology, but neglecting to say that biological processes often feel good or bad. That is, we can explain a head cold through an analysis of cellular fuctions, but a head cold only becomes meaningful to people because it hurts. In particular, D&P's anchoring of reinforcement processes to the activity of dopaminergic midbrain systems does not include even a cursory mention of the fact that the relative presence of the neuromodulator dopamine is associated with hedonic feelings ranging from elation to depression. Because D&P do not address the obvious fact that reinforcement is inherently hedonic, their analysis does not have the immediate applicability to theoretical concepts (e.g. intrinsic motivation, peak experience, play) in social and humanistic psychology that are based on the subjective interpretations of people. Related to this neglect of the importance of subjective qualia is D&P's complete neglect of emotion, or how somatic events nonconsciously inform behavior. Ironically, contemporary interpretations of emotion (see Antonio Damasio excellent book 'Descartes Error, Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain') follow very much in line with D&P's own analysis, which makes it even more inexplicable why D&P do not mention them in their book.

Book Description

Robert Trivers is a pioneering figure in the field of sociobiology. For Natural Selection and Social Theory, he has selected eleven of his most influential papers, including several classic papers from the early 1970s on the evolution of reciprocal altruism, parent-offspring conflicts, and asymmetry in sexual selection, which helped to establish the centrality of sociobiology, as well as some of his later work on deceit in signalling, sex antagonistic genes, and imprinting. Trivers introduces each paper, setting them in their contemporary context, and critically evaluating them in the light of subsequent work and further developments. The result is a unique portrait of the intellectual development of sociobiology, with valuable insights for evolutionary biology, anthropology, and psychology.

Customer Reviews:

Classic paper, plus plus why, PLUS where too now.......2006-02-28

This book contains all of Robert Triver's best papers.

In addition, each is book-ended between a two short essays outlining the background to Professor Trivers' initial exploration and thinking behind the paper, often including quite intriguing sociological contexts. Then, which is extremely valuable, Triver's brings the reader up-to-date with the subsequent history of the idea in that paper: who did it influence? Does he still believe it? What is the current hot take on the area?

It is a magnificent tribute to a life-time of work, and valuable for anyone active in the area of evolution.

Essential reading for social scientists and others.......2004-02-11

This is a beautiful book. It combines seminal papers with anecdotes and a post-scripts which place the paper in their context and make it easier for those of us who have been consumers of socio-biology to better appreciate the significance of the ideas presented. Trivers is a compelling writer and this book is a true gift to anybody curious about human psyche and behaviour. Highly recommended.

Yippee!!!.......2002-11-30

Those of us who are interested in the stories behind just HOW major breakthroughs in evolutionary and ecological thought were made have been spoiled in recent years: First there was W.D. Hamilton's marvelous 2 volume NARROW ROADS OF GENE LAND, now we get Bob Triver's wonderful NATURAL SELECTION AND SOCIAL THEORY. Here, in one place, one can find most of Trivers' revolutionary work on the evolution of social behavior, and as an added bonus one also gets Trivers' unvarnished -and often highly entertaining- commentary on just how he came to put together the ideas that -love 'em or hate 'em- provided much of the driving force behind Sociobiology & ultimately lead to Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Psychology. Along the way we are introduced to a fascinating cast of characters, ranging from Ernst Mayr, the foremost living Darwinian, through the neo-Marxist wing of Harvard, to Huey Newton, ex-Minister of Defense for the Black Panthers. Trivers' thinking is as eclectic and far ranging as the list of his friends and enemies, and while many of his subjects (altruism, parent-offspring conflict, fluctuating asymmetry, etc.) are still at the cutting edge of evolutionary thought, his writing is sufficiently free of jargon that I think it will draw in even the non-specialist. You may not agree with everything that Trivers says here -and I suspect that some folks will be offended by his candor- but this is a really important book & I see it as essential reading for any of us interested in the question of why we may do so many of the things that we do. Bravo!

The Missing Link in Cognition: Origins of Self-Reflective Consciousness

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The Missing Link in Cognition: Origins of Self-Reflective Consciousness

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195161564

Book Description

Are humans unique in having self-reflective consciousness? Or can precursors to this central form of human consciousness be found in non-human species? The Missing Link in Cognition brings together a diverse group of researchers who have been investigating this question from a variety of perspectives, including the extent to which non-human primates, and, indeed, young children, have consciousness, a sense of self, thought process, metacognitions, and representations. Some of the participants--Kitcher, Higgins, Nelson, and Tulving--argue that these types of cognitive abilities are uniquely human, whereas others--Call, Hampton, Kinsbourne, Menzel, Metcalfe, Schwartz, Smith, and Terrace--are convinced that at least the precursors to self-reflective consciousness exist in non-human primates. Their debate focuses primarily on the underpinnings of consciousness. Some of the participants believe that consciousness depends on representational thought and on the mental manipulation of such representations. Is representational thought enough to ensure consciousness, or does one need more? If one needs more, exactly what is needed? Is reflection upon the representations, that is, metacognition, the link? Does a realization of the contingencies, that is, "knowing that," in Gilbert Ryle's terminology, ensure that a person or an animal is conscious? Is true episodic memory needed for consciousness, and if so, do any animals have it? Is it possible to have episodic memory or, indeed, any self-reflective processing, without language? Other participants believe that consciousness is inextricably intertwined with a sense of self or self-awareness. From where does this sense of self or self-awareness arise? Some of the participants believe that it develops only through the use of language and the narrative form. If it does develop in this way, what about claims of a sense of self or self-awareness in non-human animals? Others believe that the autobiographical record implied by episodic memory is fundamental. To what extent must non-human animals have the linguistic, metacognitive, and/or representational abilities to develop a sense of self or self-awareness? These and other related concerns are crucial in this volume's lively debate over the nature of the missing cognitive link, and whether gorillas, chimps, or other species might be more like humans than many have supposed.

The Origin and Evolution of Intelligence

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The Origin and Evolution of Intelligence

Manufacturer: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

What is intelligence? From where did it come? Will the human brain grow and adapt to the ever-changing world? These and many other questions are addressed in The Origin and Evolution of Intelligence. This volume is composed of a series of articles presented on the origin and evolution of intelligence in March 1995 at the Eighth Annual Symposium of the UCLA Center for the Study of the Origin and Evolution of Life (CSEOL). The six authors of the contributions to this volume discuss in detail an enormous span of invertebrate and vertebrate life forms and wrestle with a vast array of problems ranging from direction finding in ants and birds to sociopolitical communication in monkeys, symbol manipulation in apes, and language use in humans. All these phenomena may be grouped under the general term intelligence, the unifying theme of the volume.

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