Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary approaches to human behavior have their own intellectual trajectory. Fuentes ’ book synthesizes a battery of historical approaches to the evolution of human behavior, including ones capitalizing on the latest interdisciplinary evolutionary theory. These are the great strengths of this book, and the reasons why it may have an impact. On the other hand, there are also major weaknesses. In a number of patches, laundry lists of ideas take the place of data and people. Sometimes the people get lost in evolutionary concepts. The aim of Evolution of Human Behavior, as proclaimed in the preface, is to non-dogmatically present an integrative approach to the evolution of human behavior. It succeeds admirably. Here, a reader can find one of the most succinct, clear and current accounts of evolutionary approaches to human behavior. Following a brief Chapter 1 (The Relevance of Understanding Human Behavioral Evolution), we take a tour in Chapter 2 (Why We Behave Like Humans: Historical Perspectives and Basal Assumptions) from Darwin to Dawkins (Fuentes ’ phrase) along the intellectual path of deciphering human behavior. This is a concise, pointed historical overview. Stopping points include Th