Choice Reviews Online· 2016
The secret of our success: how culture is driving human evolution, domesticating our species, and making us smarter
- 1,240citations
- 2016year
Short summary
This book argues that culture, not just intelligence, is the primary driver of human evolution, leading to our species' domestication and enhanced cognitive abilities.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Culture is presented as the main force behind human evolution and self-domestication.
- Cultural learning and transmission have significantly shaped human biology and cognition.
- The book examines how culture influenced physical traits and social behaviors.
- Collective intelligence and communication are highlighted as defining human characteristics.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Preface ix 1 A Puzzling Primate 1 2 It's Not Our Intelligence 8 3 Lost European Explorers 22 4 How to Make a Cultural Species 34 5 What Are Big Brains For? Or, How Culture Stole Our Guts 54 6 Why Some People Have Blue Eyes 83 7 On the Origin of Faith 97 8 Prestige, Dominance, and Menopause 117 9 In-Laws, Incest Taboos, and Rituals 140 10 Intergroup Competition Shapes Cultural Evolution 166 11 Self-Domestication 185 12 Our Collective Brains 211 13 Communicative Tools with Rules 231 14 Enculturated Brains and Honorable Hormones 260 15 When We Crossed the Rubicon 280 16 Why Us? 296 17 A New Kind of Animal 314 Notes 333 References 373 Illustration Credits 429 Index 431
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Choice Reviews Online, 2016 · DOI ↗
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Field: Cultural Studies
Cultural StudiesSocial Sciences