Bøger af Robin Dunbar

Essential reading for us all - a fascinating and comprehensive exploration of friendship in all its forms, from a world-leading expert.

When did humans develop spiritual thought? What is religion's evolutionary purpose? And in our increasingly secular world, why has it endured?Every society in the history of humanity has lived with religion. In How Religion Evolved, evolutionary psychologist Professor Robin Dunbar tracks its origins back to what he terms the 'mystical stance' - the aspect of human psychology that predisposes us to believe in a transcendent world, and which makes an encounter with the spiritual possible. As he explores world religions and their many derivatives, as well as religions of experience practised by hunter-gatherer societies since time immemorial, Dunbar argues that this instinct is not a peculiar human quirk, an aberration on our otherwise efficient evolutionary journey. Rather, religion confers an advantage: it can benefit our individual health and wellbeing, but, more importantly, it fosters social bonding at large scale, helping hold fractious societies together. Dunbar suggests these dimensions might provide the basis for an overarching theory for why and how humans are religious, and so help unify the myriad strands that currently populate this field.Drawing on path-breaking research, clinical case studies and fieldwork from around the globe, as well as stories of charismatic cult leaders, mysterious sects and lost faiths, How Religion Evolved offers a fascinating and far-reaching analysis of this quintessentially human impulse - to believe.

A narrative and accessible exploration of human evolution, from the perspective of an evolutionary psychologist

Praise for "The Science of Love""Bridges the gap between the biological explanations for humans' romantic behaviour and the psychological, historical, social and evolutionary contexts that help to shape it. Dunbar excels at taking obvious and familiar information--men prefer curvy women; women prefer men who dance well; older women rarely reveal their ages in lonely-hearts columns--and explaining the complex and often unexpected evolutionary science that lies behind it all."--The Economist"As well as looking at the science of attraction--what happens in our brains when we fall in love--Dunbar offers an engaging analysis of the differences between the sexes in their choice of life partners. Dunbar covers familiar ground, such as our inclination towards partners who resemble our parents, and how passion tends to wane three years into a relationship, but he always offers a refreshing take. "The Science of Love" is an empowering read. Only by better understanding why we act in certain ways or what is prompting a particular emotion can we make the necessary choices to improve our love lives."--The Independent (UK)

Friends matter to us, and they matter more than we think. The single most surprising fact to emerge out of the medical literature over the last decade or so has been that the number and quality of the friendships we have has a bigger influence on our happiness, health and even mortality risk than anything else except giving up smoking.Robin Dunbar is the world-renowned psychologist and author who famously discovered Dunbar's number: how our capacity for friendship is limited to around 150 people. In Friends, he looks at friendship in the round, at the way different types of friendship and family relationships intersect, or at the complex of psychological and behavioural mechanisms that underpin friendships and make them possible - and just how complicated the business of making and keeping friends actually is.Mixing insights from scientific research with first person experiences and culture, Friends explores and integrates knowledge from disciplines ranging from psychology and anthropology to neuroscience and genetics in a single magical weave that allows us to peer into the incredible complexity of the social world in which we are all so deeply embedded.Working at the coalface of the subject at both research and personal levels, Robin Dunbar has written the definitive book on how and why we are friends.

Dunbar takes readers through the theory of evolution and provides readers with answers to popular questions surrounding Darwin's original theory and how it has impacted science today.

Covering such traditional subjects as kin selection and mate choice, this text examines more complex understandings of marriage practices and inheritance rules and the way in which individual action influences the structure of societies and aspects of cultural evolution. It assesses the value of evolutionary explanations to humans.

Die Entdeckung der Gemeinsamkeit Dieses bemerkenswerte Buch, das die Evolution und die Archaologie des menschlichen Sozialverhaltens zusammenfuhrt, spannt den Bogen von den sozialen Gruppen der Steinzeit bis zu den modernen digitalen Netzwerken - und zeigt, dass wir heute in sozialen Welten leben, die sich tief in unserer evolutionaren Vergangenheit entwickelt haben.Sie werden in diesem Jahr kein wichtigeres Buch lesen. Es konnte uns ein bisschen weiser in unserer Selbsteinschatzung machen. MinervaEin wunderbares Kompendium von Geschichte, Theorien und faszinierenden Experimenten, das Sie durchweg fesseln wird. BBC FocusIn einem Stil geschrieben, der in so bewundernswerter Weise wissenschaftliches Fachvokabular und Soziologenjargon vermeidet, dass man nicht mehr als ein normales menschliches Gehirn braucht, um es zu lesen und zu verstehen ... eine sehr wertvolle Zusammenfassung unseres gegenwartigen Wissens uber die Evolution des Menschen und den moglichen Ursprung und die Entwicklung [solcher] menschlicher Eigenschaften und Fahigkeiten ... Evolution, Denken, Kultur ist wie der Urknall: wahrscheinlich noch nicht die ganze Antwort, aber zweifellos schon die Erklarung einer groen Zahl beobachtbarer Phanomene, und fur die Debatte und Weiterentwicklung unserer Vorstellungen uber die Ursprunge und die Evolution der menschlichen Kognition wird es auf Jahrzehnte hinaus als fuhrendes Modell dienen. Society of Antiquaries NewsletterEin dramatischer Schlag gegen den "e;Steine und Knochen"e;-Ansatz der Archaologie. New Scientist Zugleich ein Triumph der Zusammenarbeit und eine packende Detektivgeschichte. New Statesman _____Wann und wie entwickelte sich das Gehirn unserer fruhen Vorfahren zu einem menschlichen Gehirn? Wann und wie entstand in der Evolution unsere Fahigkeit, zu sprechen und Kunstwerke zu schaffen, zu musizieren und zu tanzen? Die Groe der sozialen Gruppen, in denen Menschen heute leben - Angehorige, Freunde, Bekannte -, betragt ungefahr 150 Personen. Diese Dunbar-Zahl"e; liegt etwa dreifach hoher als bei Menschenaffen und unseren altesten Vorfahren. Wie die Autoren dieses bahnbrechenden Buches darlegen, waren die fruhen Menschen im Kampf ums Uberleben gezwungen, sich zu immer groeren Gruppen zusammenzuschlieen und zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen uber weite Distanzen aufrechtzuerhalten. Sie mussten im Groen denken"e;, und dies wiederum trieb sowohl das Wachstum des menschlichen Gehirns als auch die Entstehung des menschlichen Geistes voran. Aus dem gegenseitigen Kraulen der Menschenaffen erwuchs die fur Menschen kennzeichnende sprachliche Zuwendung. Musik und Tanz verstarkten die Bindungen zwischen ihnen. Und die Beherrschung des Feuers verlangerte den Tag fur zwischenmenschliche Aktivitaten. Heute beherrschen soziale Netzwerke die Welt. Doch erstaunlicherweise entspricht die Zahl unserer Facebook- oder Twitter-Kontakte im Mittel der Dunbar-Zahl. Offenbar leben wir immer noch in einer sozialen Welt, die ihre Wurzeln tief in unserer Evolutionsvergangenheit hat - am Lagerfeuer, auf der Jagd und in den Graslandschaften Afrikas.

Evolutionary Psychology: A Beginner's Guide is a uniquely accessible yet comprehensive guide to the study of the effects of evolutionary theory on human behaviour. Written specifically for the general reader, and for entry-level students, it covers all the most important elements of this interdisciplinary subject, from the role of evolution in our selection of partner, to the influence of genetics on parenting. The book draws widely on examples, case studies and background facts to convey a substantial amount of information, and is authored by the UK's leading experts in the field, from the only dedicated research and teaching institute.

Tackling everything from mate choice to marriage patterns, childcare to cultural evolution, Human Evolutionary Psychology critically assesses the value of evolutionary explanations to humans in both modern western society and traditional pre-industrial societies.

This book explores the ways in which contemporary evolutionary thinking might inform the study of the peculiarly human phenomenon of symbolic culture, including language, ritual, religion, religion and art.