The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature"Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller shows the evolutionary power of sexual choice and the reasons why our ancestors became attracted not only to pretty faces and healthy bodies, but to minds that were witty, articulate, generous, and conscious. The richness and subtlety of modern psychology help to reveal how the human mind evolved, like the peacock's tail and the elk's antlers for courtship and mating." "Drawing on new ideas from evolutionary biology economics, and psychology, Miller illuminates his arguments with examples ranging from natural history to popular culture, from the art of New Guinea's bowerbirds to the sexual charisma of South Park's school chef. Along the way, he provides insights into the inarticulacy of teenage boys, the diversity of ancient Greek coins, the reasons why Scrooge was single, the difficulties of engaging with modern art, and the function of sumo wrestling."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Other editions - View all
The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature Geoffrey Miller Limited preview - 2001 |
The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature Geoffrey Miller Limited preview - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
ability adaptations advertise aesthetic altruism ancestors animals apes beauty biological biologists birds body bowerbirds breasts Buss capacities chimpanzees choosy color copulation costly costs courtship courtship behavior courtship displays courtship effort cultural Darwin David Buss energy equilibrium evolutionary psychology evolved through sexual explain favor female choice Fisher fitness indicators function genes genetic handaxes handicap principle heritable hominid human evolution human mental human mind human sexual idea important individuals innovations invented language mate choice modern mutations natural selection neoteny offspring penis penises percent Pinker pleasure Pleistocene predators predict primates produce proteanism random reciprocity reproductive Richard Dawkins runaway brain runaway process runaway sexual selection selection pressures sensory bias sex differences sexual choice sexual competition sexual ornaments sexual partners sexual preferences sexual reproduction sexual selection sexual selection theory sexually attractive shaped signals social species sperm status strategy tails traits unpredictable verbal courtship vocabulary women Zahavi
References to this book
Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution Peter J. Richerson,Robert Boyd Limited preview - 2008 |
Cognition and Emotion: From Order to Disorder Michael J. Power,Tim Dalgleish No preview available - 2008 |