Customer Reviews

Machiavellian Intelligence: Social Expertise and the Evolution of Intellect in Monkeys, Apes, and Humans (Oxford Science Publications) (Bk.1)

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The premise of this collection of articles (25 in all) is really quite simple. The editors contend that the competitive nature of social group living provided the primary impetus driving the evolutionary development of monkey, ape, and human intelligence. Other triggers for this change are considered - tool use and foraging behavior - but this collection represents a significant first salvo advocating social expertise.

No more than six articles could be considered empirical research reports due to the absence of significant research in this area prior to the publication of this volume. The majority of the articles are ethnographic is content; however, the variety and specificity of these reports are fascinating reading.

The articles are grouped into seven sections. The first includes three early works, one originally published in 1953 that sparked the idea of social expertise. Primate social relationships are the second group, and it contains one study of human child interactions. The effect of adding a third party to dyads is discussed in the social complexity section. Theory of mind especially as it may be demonstrated among chimpanzees is the subject of three articles in the fourth section, and deception is discussed in the fifth. Alternatives to social expertise are reviewed in the sixth section, and the exploitation of the expertise of others in primate groups in the last.

Considerable research has been done since 1988 which may have supplanted this collection. For example, Sternberg and Kaufman's collection "The Evolution of Human Intelligence" (2001) or Corballis and Lea's "The Descent of Mind" (1999) may be a much better starting places for a review of more contemporary work. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. If you have the time to indulge in a multi-volume introduction to the evolution of intelligence, find and include this book. To some extent it established the parameters for the ongoing dialog.