Evolution of Human Behavior

Preface 1.THE RELEVANCE OF UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIORAL EVOLUTION Theories and Hypotheses about Behavioral Evolution: Why Are They Relevant? Evolution Is Frequently Misunderstood We Need to Understand Who We Are Practical Issues such as Medicine and Public Health Can Benefit from an Understanding of Behavioral Evolution Misunderstanding Human Behavioral Evolution Can Result in Potentially Dangerous Ideas A Simple Example of Behavioral Evolution Mutation Gene Flow Genetic Drift Selection Development Why Give This Example? 2. WHY WE BEHAVE LIKE HUMANS: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND BASAL ASSUMPTIONS Charles Darwin and the Descent of Man Alfred Russel Wallace and the Evolution of the Mind Between Darwin and Sociobiology Spencer, Baldwin, and Morgan: Biology, Psychology, and the BehaviouralF Evolution of the Human Mind The Modern Synthesis Washburns' New Physical Anthropology, and the Emergence of an Evolutionary Anthropology of Behavior Tinbergen's Four Questions and Their Impact on the Understanding of Behavior The Revolution of Sociobiology, Kin Selection, and Selfish Genes: The New Synthesis Hamilton and Kin Selection Robert Trivers and Reciprocal Altruism E.O. Wilson, Evolutionary Sociobiology and the Autocatalysis Model Dawkins and the Selfish Gene Suggested Readings 3. MODERN PERSPECTIVES FOR UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIORAL EVOLUTION: A REVIEW OF BASIC ASSUMPTIONS, STRUCTURES, AND PRACTICE Human Behavioral Ecology Basic Overview of HBE Evolutionary Psychology The Adapted Mind Goals and Methods Contrast with SSSM Specific Approach Gene-Culture Coevolution (or Dual Inheritance Theory) Memetics Summing Up Suggested Readings 4. BASIC BONES AND STONES: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE RECORD OF HUMAN EVOLUTION (AS OF 2008)? Comparative Primatology Establishes a Baseline for Human Behavior Very Brief Summary of Human Fossil Record (~5mya-present) The Early Australopithecines The Pleistocene Hominins The Genus Homo Very Brief Summary of the Cultural Record and Behavioral Inferences (~2.6mya-present) Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene Forms Pleistocene Hominins-Early Pleistocene Hominins-Late Suggested Readings 5. A SURVEY OF HYPOTHESES AND PROPOSALS OF WHY WE BEHAVE LIKE HUMANS Why Select These Proposals? Summaries of Specific Hypotheses/Proposals Suggested Readings 6. DISCUSSING THE PROPOSALS The Comparison Tables A Brief Discussion on Shared Components and Differences in the Six Basic Categories Cooperation Conflict Food Environmental and Ecological Pressures Sex and Reproduction Specific Behavioral Factors Of Trends and Patterns Suggested Readings 7. TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY EVOLUTIONARY THEORY/BIOLOGY AND THINKING ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR Adding to Our Toolkit-Using Four Dimensions of Evolution Revisiting Tinbergen's Ontogenetic "Why" Four Other Approaches in Evolutionary Biology/Theory Phenotypic Plasticity and Ecological Impact/Context: Moving Beyond Norms of Reaction Developmental Systems Theory Niche Construction Biocultural Approaches to Studying Modern Humans Can Adding These Perspectives to Existing Practice (as Outlined in Chapters 2 and 3) Impact the Way We Formulate and Test Hypotheses/Conceptualizations of Human Behavioral Evolution? What Practices and Perspectives Should Be Removed or De-emphasized? What Practices and/or Perspectives Cross All of These Categories? What Perspectives Should Be Expanded? Suggested Readings 8. A SYNTHESIS AND PROSPECTUS FOR EXAMINING HUMAN BEHAVIORAL EVOLUTION A Set of Modest Proposals Emerging from Chapters 1 to 7: Seeking the Broad and the Minute Foci Looking at the Areas of Overlap and Interest from Chapter 6 Cooperation Commonalities Cooperation Factors that Deserve Further Examination Conflict Commonalities Conflict Factors that Deserve Further Examination Diet/Food Commonalities Diet/Food Factors that Deserve Further Examination Ecology/Environment Commonalities Ecology/Environment Factors that Deserve Further Examination Sex/Reproduction Commonalities Sex/Reproduction Factors that Deserve Further Examination Specific Behavior Commonalities Specific Behavior Factors that Deserve Further Examination A Modest Proposal for a General Framework of Our Evolutionary History Between Approximately 2 Million Years and 500,000 Years Ago 500,000-45,000 YEARS AGO (GIVE OR TAKE 10,000 YEARS) 45,000 Years Ago Through Today 9. PROBLEM OF BEING A MODERN HUMAN AND LOOKING AT OUR EVOLUTION Benefits and Flaws in this Prospectus Merging Approaches and Perspectives How Do We Test This and Why Are Testable Hypotheses Important? The Difficulties We Encounter When Reconstructing Our Evolutionary Path and Its Underlying Causes/Patterns Basic Educational and Paradigmatic Biases and the Problems These Bring Human Niche Construction Matters Everyday Life, Gender, and Cultural Anthropology Matter EPILOGUE: ANTHROPOLOGY, SCIENCE, AND PEOPLE Some Notes on the Value of Integrative Anthropological Approaches Getting Past Conflicts between Researchers Studying Human Behavioral Evolution The Importance of Understanding the Relationships between Religion, Science, Politics, and Explanations for the Evolution of Humanity Appendix: Related Titles for Further Reference Glossary Bibliography Index