The Descent of Mind: Psychological Perspectives on Hominid Evolution

The Descent of Mind: Psychological Perspectives on Hominid Evolution provides a provocative discussion and analysis of what psychologists have to say about the evolution of the human mind. To what extent is the human mind like that of an ape? Is language uniquely human? Is the human mind a product of biological evolution or cultural influences?

Until recently, these were questions answered by anthropologists and archaeologists. Then about ten years ago a new field, evolutionary psychology burst onto the evolutionary scene.

Now, in The Descent of Mind a group of well-known international psychologists in such diverse fields as comparative psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and psychology of language, examine in temporal sequence, the human mind at various stages of evolution. The book begins with a thorough overview of what is known of the non-primate mind and its evolution, then discusses the pre-hominid of 20 million years ago and ends with contemporary human behavior.

The contributors cover such topics as human cognitive evolution, predicting hominid intelligence from brain size, the evolution of deep social mind in humans, the rise of the metamind, and the origins of teleological thought.

Students and researchers alike in psychology, anthropology, evolution, archaeology, and ethology will find this book interesting and informative. It provides a range of provocative answers to the timeless question of what it means to be human.