Preface xi
1Introduction 1
Vampire Stories and Beyond 2
Explaining Behavior without Folklore 4
Kinds of "Why" Questions 6
Simple Rules, Complex Outcomes 8
Humans as Critters 8
2Racing the Red Queen: Selfish Genes and Their Strategies 14
Whose Genes Count, and Why? Kin Selection 17
Summing Up the Basics: Assumptions and Objections 21
Novel Evolutionary Environments: Can the Principles Still Hold? 24
More than Ants or Peacocks: Lifetimes, Culture, Ecology, and Variation 26
3The Ecology of Sex Differences 28
Sex and Strategies 30
The Ecology of Being Male and Female 35
Mating Effort 38
Parental Effort 42
Variance in Reproductive Success: Mating versus Parental Strategists 43
4Sex, Status, and Reproduction among the Apes 47
The Ecology of Dominance and Reproductive Success in Primates 48
Ecological Aspects of Mating Systems 50
Sex, Resources, and the Ecology of Human Reproduction 51
The Ecology of Human Mating Systems 59
The Ecology of Monogamy and Polyandry 66
5Sex, Resources, Appearance, and Mate Choice 69
Beauty, Resources, and Mate Choice 70
What Men and Women Want 71
Influences on Mate Choice in Modern Western Societies 75
Signals of Desirability and Their Manipulation 77
Who Can Choose? 80
6Sex, Resources, and Human Lifetimes 82
Starting Out: Resource Striving in the Womb 85
Sex Differences in Development 86
What's a Mother to Do? Optimizing Maternal Effort among Offspring 87
Conflicts of Interest: Abortion, Infanticide, Abandonment, Neglect 88
Sex Differences in Reproductive Lifetimes 92
Sex Differences in Senescence 99
7Sex and Resource Ecology in Traditional Cultures 104
Sexual Divisions of Labor 104
Sex and Control of Resources 106
Men, Women, and Resources in Traditional and Historical Cultures 106
8Sex, Resources, and Fertility in Transition 116
Germany in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 117
Nineteenth-Century Sweden 118
Sex, Resources, and Fertility in Transition 132
Fertility Transitions: What, If Anything, Do They Mean? 133
9Nice Guys Can Win-In Social Species, Anyway 135
Are We Lemmings? A Cautionary Tale 135
When and Why Do We Cooperate Most Easily? 136
Simple Strategies for Winning Games 138
Reciprocity and Its Relatives 141
Adding a Little Complexity 142
The "Group Selection" Naming Muddle 143
Altruists or Good Neighbors? 150
Cooperation and Free Riders 151
10Conflicts, Culture, and Natural Selection 152
Cooperation, Competition, and Groups 153
Working Out Our Conflicts: Moral Systems and Group Life 153
I'm Committed, Are You? The Deception and Manipulation Problems 157
Intertwining Cultural and Natural Selection 157
Logically Inept, Socially Adept: The Social Contexts of Intelligence 165
11Sex and Complex Coalitions 170
Coalitions, Resources, and Reproduction 172
Coalitions and the Ecology of Trust 180
Sex and Human Coalitions 181
12Politics and Reproductive Competition 185
Men, Women, and Politics Cross-Culturally 187
Women in Politics: When Did It Pay? 195
13Sex, Resources, and Early Warfare 198
Resources and Conflict 199
Why Women Warriors Are Rare 201
War: Runaway Sexual Selection? 202
Other Biological Approaches to Understanding War 203
The Ecology of War: Uncertainty and Payoffs 204
Intergroup Conflict in Other Species 205
Conflict in Preindustrial Societies 208
14Societal Complexity and the Ecology of War 212
Greek Hoplites: Early "Western" Warriors? 215
The Ecology of Renaissance War 215
The Behavioral Ecology of Modern War 217
Women and Disadvantaged Men in War 220
War and Reproductive Success Today 221
Proximate and Ultimate Causes of War: Evolutionary Novelty 222
15Wealth, Fertility, and the Environment in Future Tense 225
Wealth, Fertility, and Consumption Today: Empirical Data 231
How Our Evolved Tendencies Affect Our Future 237
The Behavioral Ecology of Humans and Other Species Interact 240
What's Missing in Current Strategies? 244
Can New Strategies and Tactics Help? 248
An Evolutionary Bottom Line: Can We Use What We Know? 249
Notes 253
Glossary 319
References 329
Index 399
