Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by the year 2050, the world's human population will have quadrupled in size since 1950..." (more)
Key Phrases: rhesus macaque society, other rhesus macaques, rhesus society, Cayo Santiago, Dario Maestripieri, Puerto Rico (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rhesus monkeys and humans are highly successful survivors in a complex and sometimes cruel world. Macachiavellian Intelligence, a good read about the nitty-gritty details of how rhesus monkeys make it, tells us a lot about ourselves. It''s often not a pretty picture to read about manipulative social opportunism, but if we ignore the important message of this book we, not the monkeys or other animals, will be the big losers."-Marc Bekoff, author of Minding Animals and The Emotional Lives of Animals (Marc Bekoff )

"Maestripieri tells the story with incisive prose, sharp wit and admirable brevity, and the book should appeal to a wide audience from cynical teenagers to economists who believe that the ''invisible hand'' of competition underlies all human society."-Alison Jolly, Times Higher Education Supplement (Alison Jolly Times Higher Education Supplement )

"Last year, a U.S. senator doomed his chances of reelection when he referred to a protestor as a ''macaca,'' a slur sometimes used for dark-skinned people. But `macaca' is also a name for the rhesus macaque monkey, and Maestripieri writes, `If politicians knew more about the Machiavellian intelligence of rhesus macaques, they would probably call one another "macaca" all the time, but mean it as a compliment.' Maestripieri goes on to describe the social lives and competitive society of macaques, who aren''t above using violence and manipulation to get ahead and stay there."-Discover (Discover )

"Macachiavellian Intelligence provides deep insights into the fascinating psychology of both rhesus macaques and humans. Written in an engaging style with gripping examples that highlight key principles, it gives readers a profound understanding of the things we all care about-sex, status, dominance, aggression, kin, cooperation, and conflict. Macachiavellian Intelligence is a must-read for anyone interested in the strategies we primates use to navigate the complexities of social living."--David M. Buss, author of The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating and Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind (David M. Buss )

"Books devoted to the topic of primate behavior and its similarity to humans are dominated by studies of great apes. Dario Maestripieri fills that lamentable gap with Macachiavellian Intelligence, weaving an explanation of macaque evolution and social organization into a story that also helps to explain many aspects of human behavior. Maestripieri's keen insights into both macaques and humans, presented with humor and personality, make Macachiavellian Intelligence a captivating read."-William Hopkins, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University (William Hopkins )

"Primate books are good for us. They remind us that we''re primates, too. And the embarrassing primate books are best. Macachiavellian Intelligence is an excellently embarrassing primate book, and just the thing to make us blush and shuffle our feet."-Michael Bywater, Telegraph (Michael Bywater Telegraph )

"A salutary reminder that we are members of the Order Primates as much as of the Family Hominidae, and not all that different from our disquietingly nasty cousins."-Sarah F. Brosnan, Nature (Sarah F. Brosnan Nature )

"This is a book that will appeal to a wide audience, but without losing the science." (Michael Cuisin Mammalia )

Product Description

Judged by population size and distribution, homo sapiens are clearly the most successful primates. A close second, however, would be rhesus macaques, who have adapted to—and thrived in—such diverse environments as mountain forests, dry grasslands, and urban sprawl. Scientists have spent countless hours studying these opportunistic monkeys, but rhesus macaques have long been overshadowed in the public eye by the great apes, who, because of their greater intelligence, are naturally assumed to have more to teach us, both about other primates and about humans as well.

Dario Maestripieri thinks it is high time we shelve that misperception, and with Macachiavellian Intelligence he gives rhesus macaques their rightful turn in the spotlight. The product of more than twenty years studying these fascinating creatures, Macachiavellian Intelligence caricatures a society that is as much human as monkey, with hierarchies and power struggles that would impress Machiavelli himself. High-status macaques, for instance, maintain their rank through deft uses of violence and manipulation, while altruism is almost unknown and relationships are perpetually subject to the cruel laws of the market. Throughout this eye-opening account, Maestripieri weds his thorough knowledge of macaque behavior to his abiding fascination with human society and motivations. The result is a book unlike any other, one that draws on economics as much as evolutionary biology, politics as much as primatology.

Rife with unexpected connections and peppered with fascinating anecdotes, Macachiavellian Intelligence has as much to teach us about humans as it does about macaques, presenting a wry, rational, and wholly surprising view of our humanity as seen through the monkey in the mirror.

See all Editorial Reviews

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Product Details Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (November 30, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 0226501175 ISBN-13: 978-0226501178 Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #650,966 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in these categories: (What's this?) #77 in  Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Primatology #87 in  Books > Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Primatology #95 in  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Ecology > Animals > Apes & Monkeys

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First Sentence:
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by the year 2050, the world's human population will have quadrupled in size since 1950. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
rhesus macaque society, other rhesus macaques, rhesus society, nepotistic societies, rhesus macaque group, rhesus females, rhesus males, agonistic intervention, rhesus group, submissive signal, other macaques, macaque species, alpha female

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cayo Santiago, Dario Maestripieri, Puerto Rico, United States, Yerkes Center, Robert Trivers, Sergio Leone, Stephen Ross, Clint Eastwood

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5 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 9 of 12 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars Needs editing, February 4, 2008 By  Matthew Smith "Roger Mexico" (TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Amazon Verified Purchase This book had some very interesting sections and some of the overall insights were thought provoking, but the book was just not organized well at all and it was filled with terrible metaphors. The overall affect of the organization of this work really made this book a disappointing read for me. The author attempts to make comparisons between his subjects and human beings but the reader never knows when the author is going to make these comparisons. They seem to come from nowhere and the reader just has to take the book as it comes. I would have much rather had the book broken down into cross sections that discuss Rhesus Macaque behavior and then a whole new section that compares that behavior with human behavior. This would have given the book a much firmer structure and would have broken down the information in a much more palatable way for the reader. Next the metaphors the author used throughout this book were just terrible. For me these metaphors had the affect of dumbing down the content of this work. I'm sure this was not the intent of the author, but I felt as though I were being talked down to throughout this work. The author also uses mixed metaphors which really leaves a bad impression on the reader. Next at the end of the chapter entitled Sex and Business the author makes some statements that seem extremely misogynistic. The author talks about how women have not learned to achieve political power and how they are much less adept at politics than their male counter parts. Of course the facts are that women have been playing at power politics since the Romans and Greeks and well before that. The author doesn't speak of the fact that the majority of the societies that have developed have formed highly patriarchal societies in which men have been the main beneficiaries and women for the most part have been oppressed. So it is not that women are not adept at power politics but instead they have never had the opportunity to fully participate in the systems. Not only that but women have been able to exert extraordinary influence on politics and the world through very narrow corridors of access. The author also ignores the huge progress that has been made by women in really the last hundred years or so. For a group that has really only gained full access to the political spectrum (and of course the argument could be made they are still discriminated against) very recently in human history women have made huge impacts everywhere around the world and will continue to make even greater contributions as they are able to make even more gains in the political sphere. I am sure the author's intent was not to come of as a misogynist but to me he did. He was only trying to make a comparison between Macaque societies and human society. This book would have been much better with some better editing and an additional rewrite, but unfortunately for the author many of the problems were not caught in the editing process and the work suffers terribly for it. The author is a Primatologist not an English Ph.D., but the author has written a book and must be judged on this effort. The author would be greatly served finding a new editor. The book was not great and I have read works that I would recommend much more highly than this one. It had its moments but they were not enough to redeem this awkward book. If you are just getting into ethology then you may want to give this work a try, but if you are versed int the topic already just skip this particular work. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Just what I was looking for, September 6, 2008 By  Tojagi (West) - See all my reviews "Humans can be quite flexible and adjust to their circumstances, but when all the outer layers of individualism and egalitarianism are peeled off, they have a despotic and nepotistic core that is not unlike that of rhesus macaques." - Dario Maestripieri (p164) Yes, the book could use a writer's touch. But it isn't by any means difficult reading. Yes, some of the pop culture metaphors are a bit hokey. But it's a book that's meant to be fun, for people like me, who are new to primatology, and are curious as to what primate research is telling us about human nature. I thought the story of the social climbing female named Tequila was an absolute riot, whether or not it was tinged by anthropomorphism. As a layperson, I also understand that this is only one species, and only one window through which to look at primate behavior as a reflection of our own. I expect the experts to squabble over specifics (like a group of rhesus macaques), and I enjoyed reading reveiwer Dennis Littrell's critique. But for anyone interested in the big picture of primate and human `culture', and for anyone who appreciates some insights and opinions rather than just facts, I strongly suggest they include this book in their reading along with a few books by Frans de Waal - and the somewhat outdated but still entertaining classic from the Sixties by Desmond Morris titled "The Naked Ape". 5 of 9 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars How the study of macaque behavior helps us to understand ourselves, March 16, 2008 By  Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)       Dario Maestripieri, who is an associate professor of comparative human development and evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago, has chosen here to write a popular account and analysis of his experiences with rhesus macaque monkeys. Macaques are the long-faced monkeys typically seen stealing food around Hindu temples in TV travelogues about India. Professor Maestripieri's decision results in a book that is easy to read, albeit a bit on the flippant side. The idea is to compare for a general readership the behavior of rhesus macaques and humans: how we are the same and how we are different. Many similar and very valuable studies have been done with apes, so it is refreshing to read about the lives of our more distant primate cousins for a change. Whether Maestripieri and his editors at the University of Chicago Press should have taken a less colloquial approach is a good question. I was not put off by Maestripieri's style, but I was disappointed in the causal way he seemed to read the minds and intentions of the monkeys. If some of Maestripieri's surmises about what macaques may be thinking (and why) comes back to haunt him, it won't be a big surprise. Anthropological interpretations of animal behavior are notorious for leading field biologists astray. However Maestripieri is clearly an expert on primate behavior (author of over 125 scientific publications and editor of the text, Primate Psychology 2005) and so his interpretations are to be respected. Nonetheless I would like to take issue with one of them. Maestripieri sees macaque females as using a reproductive strategy that favors having sex with the alpha male of the troop while secretly going off into the bushes with subordinate males. This way, Maestripieri reasons, she gets the best genes from the alpha male while taking out an insurance policy on her soon to be born infant in case something happens to the dominate male. Since macaque males, like lions and some other animals, have a tendency to kill infants from females with whom they have not mated, this seems a wise strategy. Macaque females typically mate with the alpha male when they are most fertile and with the lesser males when they are not fertile. It is interesting to note that macaque males, like their human counterparts, are not entirely sure about when the female is ovulating. Consequently sex becomes, as Maestripieri puts it, a political business for females. He adds that macaque females mate with different males, especially males from outside the troop, just in case the alpha male may be either sterile or too closely related genetically. Again this is good reproductive insurance. All this is understandable and insightful. However to imagine that human females employ a very similar strategy, as Maestripieri implies, is too simplistic. What human females do FIRST is form a monogamous, long-lasting relationship with the best male available so that their children can have a secure situation in which to develop. Since human offspring are so much more vulnerable for so much longer than macaque offspring, and because human males are usually more nurturing than macaque males, this is a wise strategy. At this point the female, who is "in love" with her choice, doesn't fool around (usually!). However, after some time (the "seven year itch"?) the human female begins to think about upgrading the genetic input and becomes vulnerable to advances from men she perceives as alpha males. Or she may just move on to another male. The difference is that humans practice serial monogamy while rhesus monkeys are not really monogamous at all. The real question about the value of this book is, do parallels with rhesus macaque behavior lend insight into human psychology? I think the answer is a clear yes. Indeed Maestripieri's central thesis is that the Machiavellian behavior of the macaques in which they selfishly strive for power and control in their relationships with one another is all too similar to the way humans behave. I think he makes this point very well. However there is one very big difference between macaque society and human society: rhesus macaque society is matriarchal while human societies are almost universally patriarchal. This makes a big difference, the main effect being that males in rhesus macaque societies are less important and less involved than they are in human societies. A lesser effect stems from the fact that it is the males in macaque society that leave their family while traditionally in humans it is females who typically go to live with their in-laws. This brings up the subject of nepotism, to which Maestripieri devotes a chapter (Chapter 3 "Nepotism and Politics"). He begins with some pertinent observations on Machiavelli and contemporary Italian society, noting how nepotism is the key to academic advancement. I was surprised to read that Italian professors often keep a position open for doctoral candidates just in case a relative needs one! (p. 18) Maestripieri follows this with some observations on incest and dispersal, leading to the salient point that it is impossible to understand macaque behavior and their dominance structure without knowing who is related to whom. This apples to human society as well, of course, but is something we more or less take for granted. In macaque society the observer has to watch the females to discern relationships. In human society we also have last names. Interesting. (I guess I should also note that we now have DNA tests for both macaques and humans with the well-known interesting result that the biological father may not be who we think he is.) Despite the almost jocular tone of the book at times and the lack of scientific rigor in some of Maestripieri's conclusions, I would recommend this book for professionals as well as laypersons because of Maestripieri's perceptive insights into primate behavior gained from many years of study and many years in the field. These insights help us to understand ourselves.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars No BS I'm not sure how the author got this book past the editors, but everything in it is brutally honest, as far as I can tell. Naturally, this upsets the PC crowd. Recommend. Published 10 months ago by Pascallisch 5.0 out of 5 stars This is your chance to enter the mind of a macaque... and learn something about yourself in the process As someone who has spent hundreds of hours observing, recording and discussing the behavior of rhesus macaques on the island of Cayo Santiago, I feel that Maestripieri's... Read more Published 19 months ago by Jessica Pacione Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (November 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226501175
• ISBN-13: 978-0226501178
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #650,966 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #77 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Primatology
  #87 in	Books > Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Primatology
  #95 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Ecology > Animals > Apes & Monkeys

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Needs editing, February 4, 2008

By	Matthew Smith "Roger Mexico" (TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This book had some very interesting sections and some of the overall insights were thought provoking, but the book was just not organized well at all and it was filled with terrible metaphors. The overall affect of the organization of this work really made this book a disappointing read for me.

The author attempts to make comparisons between his subjects and human beings but the reader never knows when the author is going to make these comparisons. They seem to come from nowhere and the reader just has to take the book as it comes. I would have much rather had the book broken down into cross sections that discuss Rhesus Macaque behavior and then a whole new section that compares that behavior with human behavior. This would have given the book a much firmer structure and would have broken down the information in a much more palatable way for the reader.

Next the metaphors the author used throughout this book were just terrible. For me these metaphors had the affect of dumbing down the content of this work. I'm sure this was not the intent of the author, but I felt as though I were being talked down to throughout this work. The author also uses mixed metaphors which really leaves a bad impression on the reader.

Next at the end of the chapter entitled Sex and Business the author makes some statements that seem extremely misogynistic. The author talks about how women have not learned to achieve political power and how they are much less adept at politics than their male counter parts. Of course the facts are that women have been playing at power politics since the Romans and Greeks and well before that. The author doesn't speak of the fact that the majority of the societies that have developed have formed highly patriarchal societies in which men have been the main beneficiaries and women for the most part have been oppressed. So it is not that women are not adept at power politics but instead they have never had the opportunity to fully participate in the systems. Not only that but women have been able to exert extraordinary influence on politics and the world through very narrow corridors of access.

The author also ignores the huge progress that has been made by women in really the last hundred years or so. For a group that has really only gained full access to the political spectrum (and of course the argument could be made they are still discriminated against) very recently in human history women have made huge impacts everywhere around the world and will continue to make even greater contributions as they are able to make even more gains in the political sphere.

I am sure the author's intent was not to come of as a misogynist but to me he did. He was only trying to make a comparison between Macaque societies and human society. This book would have been much better with some better editing and an additional rewrite, but unfortunately for the author many of the problems were not caught in the editing process and the work suffers terribly for it. The author is a Primatologist not an English Ph.D., but the author has written a book and must be judged on this effort. The author would be greatly served finding a new editor.

The book was not great and I have read works that I would recommend much more highly than this one. It had its moments but they were not enough to redeem this awkward book. If you are just getting into ethology then you may want to give this work a try, but if you are versed int the topic already just skip this particular work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just what I was looking for, September 6, 2008

By	Tojagi (West) - See all my reviews

"Humans can be quite flexible and adjust to their circumstances, but when all the outer layers of individualism and egalitarianism are peeled off, they have a despotic and nepotistic core that is not unlike that of rhesus macaques." - Dario Maestripieri (p164)

Yes, the book could use a writer's touch. But it isn't by any means difficult reading. Yes, some of the pop culture metaphors are a bit hokey. But it's a book that's meant to be fun, for people like me, who are new to primatology, and are curious as to what primate research is telling us about human nature. I thought the story of the social climbing female named Tequila was an absolute riot, whether or not it was tinged by anthropomorphism. As a layperson, I also understand that this is only one species, and only one window through which to look at primate behavior as a reflection of our own. I expect the experts to squabble over specifics (like a group of rhesus macaques), and I enjoyed reading reveiwer Dennis Littrell's critique.

But for anyone interested in the big picture of primate and human `culture', and for anyone who appreciates some insights and opinions rather than just facts, I strongly suggest they include this book in their reading along with a few books by Frans de Waal - and the somewhat outdated but still entertaining classic from the Sixties by Desmond Morris titled "The Naked Ape".

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How the study of macaque behavior helps us to understand ourselves, March 16, 2008

By	Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Dario Maestripieri, who is an associate professor of comparative human development and evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago, has chosen here to write a popular account and analysis of his experiences with rhesus macaque monkeys. Macaques are the long-faced monkeys typically seen stealing food around Hindu temples in TV travelogues about India. Professor Maestripieri's decision results in a book that is easy to read, albeit a bit on the flippant side.

The idea is to compare for a general readership the behavior of rhesus macaques and humans: how we are the same and how we are different. Many similar and very valuable studies have been done with apes, so it is refreshing to read about the lives of our more distant primate cousins for a change. Whether Maestripieri and his editors at the University of Chicago Press should have taken a less colloquial approach is a good question. I was not put off by Maestripieri's style, but I was disappointed in the causal way he seemed to read the minds and intentions of the monkeys. If some of Maestripieri's surmises about what macaques may be thinking (and why) comes back to haunt him, it won't be a big surprise. Anthropological interpretations of animal behavior are notorious for leading field biologists astray. However Maestripieri is clearly an expert on primate behavior (author of over 125 scientific publications and editor of the text, Primate Psychology 2005) and so his interpretations are to be respected.

Nonetheless I would like to take issue with one of them. Maestripieri sees macaque females as using a reproductive strategy that favors having sex with the alpha male of the troop while secretly going off into the bushes with subordinate males. This way, Maestripieri reasons, she gets the best genes from the alpha male while taking out an insurance policy on her soon to be born infant in case something happens to the dominate male. Since macaque males, like lions and some other animals, have a tendency to kill infants from females with whom they have not mated, this seems a wise strategy. Macaque females typically mate with the alpha male when they are most fertile and with the lesser males when they are not fertile. It is interesting to note that macaque males, like their human counterparts, are not entirely sure about when the female is ovulating. Consequently sex becomes, as Maestripieri puts it, a political business for females. He adds that macaque females mate with different males, especially males from outside the troop, just in case the alpha male may be either sterile or too closely related genetically. Again this is good reproductive insurance.

All this is understandable and insightful. However to imagine that human females employ a very similar strategy, as Maestripieri implies, is too simplistic. What human females do FIRST is form a monogamous, long-lasting relationship with the best male available so that their children can have a secure situation in which to develop. Since human offspring are so much more vulnerable for so much longer than macaque offspring, and because human males are usually more nurturing than macaque males, this is a wise strategy. At this point the female, who is "in love" with her choice, doesn't fool around (usually!). However, after some time (the "seven year itch"?) the human female begins to think about upgrading the genetic input and becomes vulnerable to advances from men she perceives as alpha males. Or she may just move on to another male. The difference is that humans practice serial monogamy while rhesus monkeys are not really monogamous at all.

The real question about the value of this book is, do parallels with rhesus macaque behavior lend insight into human psychology? I think the answer is a clear yes. Indeed Maestripieri's central thesis is that the Machiavellian behavior of the macaques in which they selfishly strive for power and control in their relationships with one another is all too similar to the way humans behave. I think he makes this point very well. However there is one very big difference between macaque society and human society: rhesus macaque society is matriarchal while human societies are almost universally patriarchal. This makes a big difference, the main effect being that males in rhesus macaque societies are less important and less involved than they are in human societies. A lesser effect stems from the fact that it is the males in macaque society that leave their family while traditionally in humans it is females who typically go to live with their in-laws.

This brings up the subject of nepotism, to which Maestripieri devotes a chapter (Chapter 3 "Nepotism and Politics"). He begins with some pertinent observations on Machiavelli and contemporary Italian society, noting how nepotism is the key to academic advancement. I was surprised to read that Italian professors often keep a position open for doctoral candidates just in case a relative needs one! (p. 18) Maestripieri follows this with some observations on incest and dispersal, leading to the salient point that it is impossible to understand macaque behavior and their dominance structure without knowing who is related to whom. This apples to human society as well, of course, but is something we more or less take for granted. In macaque society the observer has to watch the females to discern relationships. In human society we also have last names. Interesting. (I guess I should also note that we now have DNA tests for both macaques and humans with the well-known interesting result that the biological father may not be who we think he is.)

Despite the almost jocular tone of the book at times and the lack of scientific rigor in some of Maestripieri's conclusions, I would recommend this book for professionals as well as laypersons because of Maestripieri's perceptive insights into primate behavior gained from many years of study and many years in the field. These insights help us to understand ourselves.