Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour

Evolutionary theory is one of the most wide-ranging and inspiring scientific ideas, and it offers a battery of methods that can be used to interpret human behaviour. However, researchers disagree about the best ways to use evolution to explore humanity, and a number of schools of thought have emerged.

Sense and Nonsense, third edition, provides an introduction to the ideas, methods and findings of five such schools, namely sociobiology, human behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology, cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution. In this revised and updated edition of their successful monograph, Brown and Lala provide a balanced and rigorous analysis that scrutinises both the evolutionary arguments and the allegations of the critics, carefully guiding the reader through the mire of confusing terminology, claim, and counter-claim, and polemical statements.

This readable and informative introductory book will be of use to undergraduate and postgraduate students (for example in psychology, anthropology and zoology), as well as experts on one approach who would like to know more about the other perspectives and lay-persons interested in evolutionary explanations of human behaviour. Having completed the book, the reader will feel better placed to assess the legitimacy of claims made about human behaviour under the name of evolution and to make judgements as to what is sense and what is nonsense.

Author: Gillian R. Brown, Kevin N. Lala
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 03/13/2025
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 10.20h x 5.52w x 0.35d
ISBN: 9780198908203

About the Author
Gillian R. Brown, Professor of Psychology, University of St Andrews, Kevin N. Lala, Professor of Biology, University of St Andrews

Gillian R. Brown is a Professor in the School of Psychology & Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, UK. Her research focuses on sex/gender differences in the behaviour and cognition of mammals, including humans, which she has studied from neuroendocrine, developmental and evolutionary perspectives. Research topics have included infant and adolescent behavioural development, parental investment, and mating strategies. She has formerly been Vice-President of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Faculty Lead (Science & Medicine) for the University of St Andrews.

Kevin N. Lala (formerly Laland) is Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology at the University of St Andrews, UK. His research encompasses a range of topics related to animal behaviour and evolution, particularly social learning, gene-culture coevolution, and niche construction. He has published 12 books and over 300 articles on these topics and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Royal Society of Biology. He is also a former President of both the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association and the Cultural Evolution Society.