Human evolution and male aggression : debunking the myth of man and ape / Anne Innis Dagg and Lee Harding.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dagg, Anne Innis.

Contributor:

Harding, L. (Lee)

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human evolution.

Social evolution.

Human behavior.

Inter-male aggression.

Physical Description:

xiv, 256 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Amherst, N.Y. : Cambria Press, [2012]

Summary:

With much of the popular literature on human evolution maintaining a view of the importance of male aggression in the evolution of humans (through "survival of the fittest" modes of evolution), this text reviews the evidence from archaeological investigations of our human ancestors and the biology and behavior of our close primate relatives and finds that various biases have distorted the scientific picture and have erroneously pushed to the fore male aggressiveness as a primary trait and evolutionary driver of early hominids. They offer counter-evidence in the form of a range of primate behaviors witnessed in the wild, including appeasement behaviors to forestall aggression, nuclear families as a form of social organization, male affection towards infants, male friendship with other males, and infanticide by females, all of which undermine the "survival of the fittest" understanding of the evolution of human primates. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

160497821X

9781604978216

OCLC:

796999984

Publisher Number:

99950684818