Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind (4th Edition) [Hardcover]

David Buss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2011 | ISBN-10: 020501562X | ISBN-13: 978-0205015627 | Edition: 4

For courses in Evolutionary Psychology .  

 

David Buss, one of the foremost researchers in the field, has thoroughly revised his already successful text with nearly 400 new references to provide an even more comprehensive overview of this dynamic field. Using cutting-edge research and an engaging writing style, the Fourth Edition of Evolutionary Psychology  ensures that your students will master the material presented.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In the first edition, Evolutionary Psychology was the premier and original text for the burgeoning field of evolutionary psychology. The third edition, containing a major update involving nearly 400 new references, continues this legacy.

 

David Buss, one of the foremost researchers in the field, has thoroughly revised his already enormously successful text to provide an even more comprehensive overview of this dynamic field. Using cutting-edge research and an engaging writing style, the third edition of Evolutionary Psychology ensures that you will master the material presented.

 

Highlights of the Third Edition

• Expanded coverage of issues in clinical and psychopathology
• Expanded coverage of culture and learning
• New coverage of testosterone and human mating
• New coverage of work on parenting and kinship adaptations
• Expanded coverage of fMRI and other neuroscience findings
• New work on adaptations linked with ovulation
• New section on the evolution of intelligence

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

David M. Buss received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkley in 1981. He began his career in academics at Harvard, later moving to the University of Michigan before accepting his current position as Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas. His primary research interests include human sexuality, mating strategies, conflict between the sexes, homicide, stalking, and sexual victimization. The author of more than 200 scientific articles and 6 books, Buss has won numerous awards including the American Psychological Association (APA) Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology (1988), the APA G. Stanley Hall Lectureship (1990), the APA Distinguished Scientist Lecturer Award (2001), and the Robert W. Hamilton Book Award (2000) for the first edition of Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind. He is also the editor of the first comprehensive Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology (2005, Wiley). He enjoys extensive cross-cultural research collaborations and lectures widely within the United States and abroad.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Pearson; 4 edition (February 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 020501562X
• ISBN-13: 978-0205015627
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After completing his doctorate in 1981 at the University of California, Berkeley, David Buss spent four years as Assistant Professor at Harvard University. In 1985, he migrated to the University of Michigan, where he taught for 11 years before accepting his current position at the University of Texas in 1996. His primary interests include the evolutionary psychology of human mating strategies; conflict between the sexes; prestige, status, and social reputation; the emotion of jealousy; homicide; anti-homicide defenses; and stalking.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A triumphantly successful milestone for modern psychology. February 3, 1999

By Lance Hetzler

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Professor Buss has taken upon himself the formidable challenge of producing the first evolutionary psychology textbook, a milestone that is long overdue. In his endeavor he has succeeded magnificently. In 411 pages he manages a sterling job of covering the most important topics in evolutionary psychology, bringing to bear the most up to date literature in a simple to read yet academically compelling format. He begins with a complete and intelligent introduction to both evolutionary theory and the events leading to the development of an evolutionary psychology. Thereafter, he covers broad branches of human behavior - kin relations, cooperative relationships, warfare, aggression, status-seeking, parenting and, of course, human mating strategies. This last topic is covered in several different chapters and highlights the authorąs own valuable, ground-breaking work done in the area. His book provides a miraculous combination of both utterly fascinating and effortless reading, rare qualities in textbooks. No review can be complete without mention of a few blemishes, however minor and in this case it is particularly tempting to simply omit them entirely. However, Dr. Buss occasionally relies heavily, too heavily perhaps, on secondary or general sources of information (i.e., Dawkins, de Waal, Pinker) when more research oriented sources are available. No doubt this stems, at least in part, from the fact that there is simply not as much primary literature on the subject as one could hope for (at least where humans are concerned). This will undoubtedly be improved by the time the next edition rolls off the press. Too, one would greatly hope that future editions of this text might include a section on foraging/hunting and food adaptations since they are so fundamental to survival and because so many other primate species display overt and well-studied feeding adaptations. However, such minor details are utterly dwarfed by the magnitude, importance and quality of this work. The breadth, depth and timeliness of this textbook cannot be overstated. If you are planning on teaching an undergraduate course on evolutionary psychology or are simply interested in learning more about the subject, this is, without question, the most authoritative and comprehensive vehicle available, eclipsing even the extraordinary Adapted Mind.

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent textbook for undergraduate students. October 15, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

By working from the premises of Tooby & Cosmides' Integrated Causal Model, David Buss has done an outstanding job of making accessible not only the complex historical development of evolutionary psychology, but also inclusive fitness theory, specific evolutionary hypotheses and specific predictions derived from these hypotheses. Furthermore, Buss is comprehensive, balanced and precise when asserting theories and empirical substantiation from other major thinkers, viz., Trivers, Pinker, Bloom, Ridley, Symons, Williams, Mayr, Plomin, DeFries, etc.

70 of 83 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars high on appeal, low on rigor June 24, 2005

By saimiri37

Format:Hardcover

I used this book as a text book for a course I taught on Human Behavior. On the whole, the students really enjoyed the text and they found Buss's writing style to be very engaging and easy to read. I would agree.

Nevertheless, I feel this book--like the whole field of Evolutionary Psychology--requires a far more rigorous scientific framework before it can be considered a field that can substantively explain human behavior from an evolutionary perspective. Don't get me wrong: evolutionary hypotheses can provide a lot of insight into particular human behaviors. However, I would have liked to see much more discussion on what is science, what constitutes a scientifically valid argument, how do we falsify a particular hypothesis, etc. These issues could be covered in a few pages or so, and I think they could help flesh out or perhaps even justify some of the arguments put forth in the text. As it stands now, the book reads more like an apologetic and as I skim the pages, I get the same feeling that I do when I've been pamphleted by evangelicals. Buss's arguments are fraught with generalizations: studies on college kids are extrapolated to the whole human species, studies on plumage color in birds are used to argue for handicaps in humans, and on and on it goes. There are sentences that make pretty extraordinarly claims that go unreferenced and there are sentences that make trivial points that are tailed by six references.

Professor Buss does a good job in conveying the basics of natural selection, but then uses some of the most tenuous definitions of fitness in trying to make an adaptive argument: questionaires, age, symmetry, and even intuition are all stand-ins for fitness. This is a shame because in order to know when selection will operate, we need to know how phenotypic (including behavioral) variation covaries with fitness. Because his fitness proxies are so weak, I have a hard time buying many of the arguments advanced in the book. Other evolutionary forces are rarely discussed; such lapses are unfortunate since it is likely that drift has played some (if not a major) role in getting populations to cross adaptive valleys, as well as affecting the evolutionary dynamics of frequency-dependent selection. But I digress...

I hope future editions (and I'm sure they're on their way) will include a chapter on scientific and evolutionary epistemology. That is, I would like to see a chapter address the question: what steps do evolutionary biologists proceed through when they make an adaptive argument. This would be a timely and useful contribution given that intelligent-design folks are trying to loosen up and poke holes in the definition of science. One chapter starts down this road but never critically discusses how hypotheses are tested (and rejected!), it focuses more on how hypotheses are developed--and believe me, evolutionary psychologists are good at coming up with hypotheses. Professor Buss's book, with its profligate use of unfalsifiable hypotheses, does not help the cause in this respect. Sure, evolutionary psychologists can always hide behind Lakatos as they denigrate Popper for being too severe, or, like Dunbar et al., they can actually learn some math, some scientific epistemology, and help bring evolutionary psychology into a more rigorous, more reputable position. Buss's book does too much of the former and not enough of the latter.