Social Expertise and the Evolution of Intellect in Monkeys, Apes and Humans (Bk. 1) (Machiavellian Intelligence) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198521790 ISBN 13: 9780198521792

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1988

Synopsis

According to conventional wisdom, our unique human intellect results from evolutionary pressures for skilled tool use and for communication to enhance co-operation. This book explores the theory that the driving force behind the human intellect was social expertise, allowing subtle manipulation of others within the social group, who themselves are seen as posing the most challenging problems faced by our ancestors. The need to outwit clever colleagues then produces an evolutionary spiralling of "Machiavellian intelligence". The origin of the theory is expanded and there are applications in anthropology, psychology and zoology. Included also is an evaluation of more traditional ideas and to what extent Machiavellian intelligence is complementary or alternative to them.

About this title

Review

"Unusually well organized, integrated, and edited, unlike so many haphazard collections of edited papers. The theoretical position is intriguing, and the evidence convincing....The papers are generally excellent." --American Scientist
"In summary, the reader of Machiavellian Intelligence will find the book promising for generating new hypotheses and additional questions about the evolution of intelligence, phylogenetic differences in social intelligence, and sources of selection pressure for attentional manipulation such as deception, to mention just a few. These topics could be explored fruitfully using the book as a reader in an interdisciplinary seminar with graduate students from psychology, anthropology, and zoology and would surely provide for a lively and thoughtful exchange of ideas and opinions. Clearly the topic of primate social intelligence, enthusiastically launched by this collection of writings, offers much tinder for future research." --International Journal of P

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198521790
• ISBN 13: 9780198521792
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 432
• Editor: Byrne Richard W., Whiten Andrew