Games primates play : an undercover investigation of the evolution and economics of human relationships

 by Dario Maeistripieri Relationships play a central role in human lives, and people who don't have good relationships with other people are generally not happy. Why is this so? Although the study of human relationships is generally the purview of psychologists, to fully understand the underlying pattern of relationships, the researcher (or interested lay reader) must step into the field of biology and, more specifically, into the realms of evolutionary biology and animal behavior. All animals exhibit social behavior to some degree, but humans are most similar to the other members of our order, the Primates, and we can learn a lot about why we act the way we do by studying our cousins. Maestripieri has analyzed human and primate behavior patterns the games individuals play with each other and in a group and shows us the similarities to other primates in this fascinating survey. Using wonderful comparative studies and conversational language, Maestripieri brings us back to our primate roots so that we can better understand why we do the things we do. --Booklist (Check Catalog)