Evolution Psychology

Five years ago, I asked myself: Was I living or just existing? This led me on a journey of deep research and discovery, both of the outer world around me and my own inner world. I realized a lack of understanding leads to a lack of fulfillment and purpose in life, so this audiobook is an honest assessment of hard-hitting questions about beliefs and traditions we as a species have held for eons.

Drawing on insights from across the social, behavioral, and natural sciences, Michelle Baddeley explores contexts in which behavior is driven by the herd. She analyzes the rational vs nonrational and cognitive vs emotional forces involved, and she investigates why herding only sometimes works out well. With new perspectives on followers, leaders, and the pros and cons of herd behavior, Baddeley shines vivid light on human behavior in the context of our ever-more-connected world.

Noted scientist David P. Barash explores the process by which science has, throughout time, cut humanity "down to size", and how humanity has responded. A good paradigm is a tough thing to lose, especially when its replacement leaves us feeling more vulnerable and less special. And yet, as science has progressed, we find ourselves - like it or not - bereft of many of our most cherished beliefs, confronting an array of paradigms lost. Barash models his argument around a set of "old" and "new" paradigms that define humanity's place in the universe.

With humanity facing its greatest series of simultaneous crises, Ervin Laszlo offers a scientifically based perspective on what is called for at this critical juncture of our existence: a phase of upshift to higher levels of order and coherence to keep us on our evolutionary path. This book lays out why this upshift is needed, what resources we possess to draw upon, and what the action steps are that will move us all toward this achievable vision of well-being and wholeness.

We’re constantly seeking answers to these fundamental human questions, and now, science has the answers. The foods we enjoy, the people we love, the emotions we feel, and the beliefs we hold can all be traced back to our DNA, germs, and environment. This witty, colloquial book is popular science at its best, describing in everyday language how genetics, epigenetics, microbiology, and psychology work together to influence our personality and actions.

We all know the autistic genius stereotypes. The absentminded professor with untied shoelaces. The geeky Silicon Valley programmer who writes bulletproof code but can't get a date. But there is another set of (tiny) geniuses whom you would never add to those ranks - child prodigies. We mostly know them as the chatty and charming tykes who liven up day­time TV with violin solos and engaging banter. These kids aren't autistic, and there has never been any kind of scientific connection between autism and prodigy. Until now.

The Social Paradox has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.Why do people who have so much—leading comfortable lives filled with unprecedented freedom, choice, and abundance—often feel so unhappy and unfulfilled? This phenomenon is a defining paradox of our time and one we endlessly seek to solve. In The Social Paradox, psychologist William von Hippel argues that we need to think about this problem in a new way. By changing our perspective, we might finally see the solution, bringing us greater happiness and more satisfying relationships.

Despite extensive evidence highlighting the influence of genetics in the business world, this critical connection has been glossed over by corporate leaders and management gurus. Now, for the first time, author Scott Shane explains why genes matter, and how an understanding of their relationship to behavior is of vital importance to employers, employees, and policy makers.

Sharing stories and advice rooted in the science of evolutionary psychology, father and son authors Doug Kenrick and David Lundberg-Kenrick pinpoint the dangers of stone-age problem solving for our lives today, and present a new, systematic way to survive and be happy in the modern world.

Few of us know much about the biology of sex determination, but what could be more interesting than to discover how we are shaped into males and females? In this book, Elof Carlson tells the incredible story of the difficult quest to understand how the body forms girls and boys. Carlson's history takes us from antiquity to the present day to detail how each component of human reproduction and sexuality was identified and studied....

If we are, in part, a product of our genes, can free will exist? Incisive and engaging, this indispensable tour of evolutionary biology runs the gamut of contemporary debates, from science and religion to our place in the universe.

Darwin developed the theory of sexual selection to explain why the animal world abounds in stunning beauty, from the brilliant colors of butterflies and fishes to the songs of birds and frogs. He argued that animals have "a taste for the beautiful" that drives their potential mates to evolve features that make them more sexually attractive and reproductively successful. But if Darwin explained why sexual beauty evolved in animals, he struggled to understand how.

In the 1970s, the behavioral psychologist Herbert S. Terrace led a remarkable experiment to see if a chimpanzee could be taught to use language. A young ape, named “Nim Chimpsky” in a nod to the linguist whose theories Terrace challenged, was raised by a family in New York and instructed in American Sign Language. Initially, Terrace thought that Nim could create sentences but later discovered that Nim’s teachers inadvertently cued his signing. Terrace concluded that Project Nim failed - not because Nim couldn’t create sentences but because he couldn’t even learn words.

In this unique and cutting-edge book, author, clinician, and researcher Dr. Angela Browne-Miller delves into scientific, spiritual, and consciousness information to explain how she has arrived at this innovative understanding of our situation and this new level of survival awareness she presents.

In Strange Bedfellows, David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton look at how biology actually promotes monogamy in some species and how these lessons apply to human beings. An accessible work of science that is relevant to our intimate daily life, Strange Bedfellows will reassure some people, surprise others, and engage everyone.

Evolution changed the primeval human by evolving the brain, giving the human creativity, perspective, and analytical skills. The brain is the most complex organ in the human body by far, made up of a complex network of billions of nerve cells. With this complexity in the brain, created throughout the evolution of man, why do we still struggle to master our own mind, to take control, and to have influence over our own emotions? Are you seeking the answers to these historic questions? Why do you procrastinate when others take action?

The world wants to sell us the idea that all we need to succeed is one lucky event. One lucky event and your dreams come true, your problems are forever solved, and everything is perfect. But life doesn’t work that way. Those who expect an overnight revolution in their lives end up right back where they started - bitter and angry at the merciless world that placed so many obstacles on their path to a better life. If you wish to make your dreams come true, instead of hoping for a revolution, prepare for an evolution - an arduous but fruitful everyday process of self-improvement.