The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

I recommend this book wholeheartedly and would give it ten stars if I could. It was one of the first accounts I ever read concerning evolutionary psychology. Once I opened it I found that I couldn't put it down. Like Matt Ridley, Robert Wright is a magnificent populizer of the discipline and his narrative will appeal to both laypersons and those in the field. The text is erudite but lively. Further, its 400 pages (about) are cogent and concise. As far as political slant goes I couldn't detect one. Like Dr. Buss, Wright puts science first and foremost which is all conservatives can ask for nowadays. The Introduction and First chapter provide an excellent summary of Darwin and the movement that followed him. Interestingly enough, while consumers spend millions on "self-help" publications, Wright's chapters "Male and Female," "Men and Women," "The Marriage Market," and "The Darwinian Plan for Marital Bliss" tell us far more about dating and relationships than anything you'll see on Oprah or read at the major media outlets. Two other sections I greatly enjoyed concerned Darwinian and Freudian Cynicism and Evolutionary Ethics where Wright displayed keen insight in regards to the perspectives of our modern age. His quote "Ironic self-consciousness is the order of the day" is one I'll never forget.

Not quite as ground breaking as The Selfish Gene, and it took me awhile to get used to reading page after page of Darwin's life (yes, I got the fact he was just a literary device, but I'd rather have abstract examples) but an overall excellent read on how the most trivial behavior looks through the lens of evolutionary psychology.

Robin Wright is a prolific writer in the field of evolutionary psychology and a staunch supporter of New Darwinianism. In his ground breaking book, "The Moral Animal", Wright sheds light on various innate human behaviors through the prism of natural selection and cognitive psychology. He discusses origins of many peculiar tendencies such as advantages of low self esteem, self deception, the nature of monogamy in men and women, office politics, kin selection etc., all deeply rooted at the subconscious level.

In exploring morality, Wright expresses his cynical view that the road to success is paved with self serving intentions. Success is defined as passing on one's genes as far and wide into the future as possible. He postulates any tendency to gain an advantage in this endeavor, however selfish, is favored by natural selection. The goal of the supposed "moral animal" is to act as selfishly as possible while simultaneously appearing selfless to his or her peers.

In the later chapters, Wright temporarily abandons his cynical view of morality and introduces the reader to his idea of non-zero-sumness and utilitarianism: Small sacrifices on behalf of individuals resulting in larger gains for others will leave everyone better off, including the individual, and therein lies the compelling reason for moral behavior.

While Darwin's natural selection has remained an unproven theory, albeit with increasingly strong evidence pointing to its validity, Wright discloses in the appendix his bias of using natural selection to explain all human behavior, including everything that has been explained so far and "the rest". He speaks of a "faith" in the theory, which is a recipe for overreaching observations.

Despite Wright's own bias in using Darwin's life and theories constantly to explain anything and everything, his arguments are expressed in a cogent and plausible manner, and will give any reader plenty of ideas to ponder.

If you are a modern woman, educated with all the equalitarism lectures, professional, qualified, and have gone through a life very much like that of the girls of "Sex and the City", put your Cosmo aside and read this book. It may shock you, it may even infuriate you but it may help you to understand why certain past relationships did not work, what people thinks of you and it will provide you with a general dynamucs of human relations.
It's not like you are going to accept that every person in the world follows the behavior patterns exposed here but it helps you to comprehend why some people do (even though they preached and believed on exactly the opposite attitudes) and, moreover, once you accept these patterns underlie most human motivations you can use this knowledge for your own benefit... I got a ring on my finger out of it... as well as great success as a HR manager...
And the gossip about Darwin's life is quite interesting too...

A series of hypothesis and theories, always supported by a scientific presentation of evidence found in other works on the relevant subjects. A very interesting insight in the human nature, in the relationship between men and women, with special regard to the driving forces which influence the human behaviour (sexual desire, greed, hunt for power and wealth etc.).