Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life: A Psychologist Investigates How Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity Are Revolutionizing Our View of Human Nature

by Douglas T. Kenrick

"Kenrick writes like a dream." -- Robert Sapolsky, Professor of Biology and Neurology, Stanford University; author of A Primate's Memoir and Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers What do sex and murder have to do with the meaning of life? Everything. In Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life, social psychologist Douglas Kenrick exposes the selfish animalistic underside of human nature, and shows how it is intimately connected to our greatest and most selfless achievements. Masterfully integrating cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and complexity theory, this intriguing book paints a comprehensive picture of the principles that govern our lives. As Kenrick divulges, beneath our civilized veneer, human beings are a lot like howling hyenas and barking baboons, with heads full of homicidal tendencies and sexual fantasies. But, in his view, many ingrained, apparently irrational behaviors -- such as inclinations to one-night stands, racial prejudices, and conspicuous consumption -- ultimately manifest what he calls "Deep Rationality.&" Although our heads are full of simple selfish biases that evolved to help our ancestors survive, modern human beings are anything but simple and selfish cavemen. Kenrick argues that simple and selfish mental mechanisms we inherited from our ancestors ultimately give rise to the multifaceted social lives that we humans lead today, and to the most positive features of humanity, including generosity, artistic creativity, love, and familial bonds. And out of those simple mechanisms emerge all the complexities of society, including international conflicts and global economic markets. By exploring the nuance of social psychology and the surprising results of his own research, Kenrick offers a detailed picture of what makes us caring, creative, and complex -- that is, fully human. Illuminated with stories from Kenrick's own colorful experiences -- from his criminally inclined shantytown Irish relatives, his own multiple high school expulsions, broken marriages, and homicidal fantasies, to his eventual success as an evolutionary psychologist and loving father of two boys separated by 26 years -- this book is an exploration of our mental biases and failures, and our mind's great successes. Idiosyncratic, controversial, and fascinating, Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life uncovers the pitfalls and promise of our biological inheritance.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Evolution, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Biology

Kindle Edition

First published April 26, 2011

About the author

Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. His research and writing integrate three scientific syntheses of the last few decades: evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, and dynamical systems theory. He is author of over 170 scientific articles, books, and book chapters, the majority applying evolutionary ideas to human cognition and behavior.

His father and brother both spent several years in Sing Sing, but he broke the family tradition and went to graduate school to study psychology. He studied social psychology under Robert B. Cialdini and received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in 1976. He has edited several books on evolutionary psychology, contributed chapters to the Handbook of Social Psychology and the Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, and been an author of two multi-edition textbooks (Psychology, with John Seamon; and Social Psychology: Goals in Interaction, with Steven Neuberg and Robert B. Cialdini). He writes a blog for Psychology Today magazine, titled Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life. He has a forthcoming book of the same title.

Reviews

[Violet · Rating 2 out of 5]

A more apt title should be:
A Psychologist tries to explain how he got divorced three times. Interview with Ross Geller not included.

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rather boldish review of psy stuff.

Q:
Эмерджентность — свойства системы, которые не присущи ее элементам по отдельности, а возникают благодаря объединению этих элементов в целостную систему. Именно таким образом описывается возникновение психики в нашем мозге в настоящее время.
(c)
Q:
Наши воспоминания могут проявляться в двух формах. Иногда, когда мы вспоминаем прошлое, на ум приходят события, происходившие на самом деле, как поцелуй втроем или звонок мамы с печальной вестью. А порой мы думаем о том, что могло бы произойти, если бы в свое время в прошлом мы выбрали другую дорогу в жизни. Действительно, мы, бывает, лучше помним то, чего не сделали, чем то, что произошло на самом деле.
Когда я был моложе, я влюбился в красивую, но сдержанную особу. Как-то раз она, казалось, решилась преодолеть свою застенчивость и начала увлекать меня в спальню. Однако я подумал о своей тогдашней подружке и не воспользовался предоставляющейся возможностью. Тем не менее я все думаю: что бы было, если бы я тогда остался? Стало бы это приятным воспоминанием о краткосрочной пылкой связи или полностью перевернуло бы мою жизнь?
У многих моих друзей есть подобные воспоминания о несостоявшихся событиях, подобных моему, о моментах, когда они были готовы лечь в постель с женщиной, которая им нравилась. Интересно, бывают ли такие воспоминания у женщин?
Как-то много лет спустя во время творческого отпуска мы разговорились с Нилом Роузом, который в то время работал в Университете имени Саймона Фрэйзера в Британской Колумбии. Нил считается самым крупным специалистом в мире по контрфактуальным воспоминаниям. Он изучает воспоминания людей об альтернативах, которые они упустили, и то, как повернулась бы жизнь, если бы они сделали другой выбор. Независимо друг от друга мы оба начали размышлять о возможных различиях при мыслях о несбывшемся у мужчин и женщин.
Исследователи, ранее изучавшие контрфактуальное мышление, не обнаружили половых различий, достойных внимания. Но чем больше мы с Нилом говорили, тем очевиднее становилось, что ошибка исследователей, вероятно, заключалась в неверной постановке вопроса. В предыдущих исследованиях проводилось изучение контрфактуальных мыслей людей о возможных успехах, которых они не достигли (например, «Если бы я больше тренировался, я выиграл бы»), но они не затронули пласт взаимоотношений в воспоминаниях. Во время нашей работы с коллегами Нила Джинджер Пеннигтон, Джил Коулмэн и Марией Джаники и моим коллегой Нормом Ли мы более пристально посмотрели на то, что люди думают о несостоявшихся романтических отношениях. На протяжении ряда исследований мы просили испытуемых подумать об их романтических отношениях в прошлом, об их успехах в учебе, о друзьях или взаимоотношениях с родителями. Когда они начинали вспоминать прошлое, мы задавали им вопрос: «Не хотели бы вы поступить иначе, если бы можно было вернуть прошлое?»
Когда речь шла о родителях или школьных делах, и мужчины, и женщины в два раза чаще сожалели о своем бездействии, о том, что им следовало сделать, а они не сделали, чем о действиях, которые они совершили и о которых сожалеют. Что же касается любовных взаимоотношений, то здесь реакции мужчин и женщин очень отличаются. У женщин гораздо больше сожалений по поводу того, что они сделали (наподобие: «Связала свою жизнь с этим эгоистом и подонком! А ведь мама предупреждала!»). А мужчины в подавляющем большинстве сожалеют о том, чего не сделали (к примеру, жалко, что не познакомился поближе с такой-то дамочкой).
С точки зрения эволюционной психологии в этом есть смысл: мужчины более склонны к беспорядочным сексуальным связям, тогда как женщины в этом отношении более осторожны. Когда женщины принимают неверное решение, они об этом долго помнят. Вероятно, эти воспоминания позволяют им избегать подобных ошибок в будущем.
(c)

[Tim Lepczyk · Rating 1 out of 5]

When a baseball player steps up to the plate and wags his bat at the wall past outfield, it's a sign.  Next pitch is a homerun.  When someone, in this case, Douglas Kenrick, entitles a book Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life it's the literary equivalent of holding a bat straight out to the centerfield wall.

The introduction begins, "You and I have probably never met, but you might be shocked to learn how well we know one another and how intimately our lives are connected."  Kenrick goes on to say, "this is a book about the biggest question we can ask: What is the meaning of life?"  However, he explores questions regarding the choices people make and how evolution may play into those decisions, without really addressing the meaning of life, or the other question he brings up, "How can I live a more meaningful life?"  Instead, as if he were ready for critic's comments, Kenrick states, "Despite what you might have read in Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, first impressions can be misleading.  If you do a blink-style speed-read of this book, you might think it is mostly about me...But if you keep reading, I am pretty sure you'll discover that this book is really about you, your family, and your friends and about the important decisions you confront every day."

It feels like Kenrick is putting the onus on the reader.  If you think the book is about me, obviously you are not a close reader, obviously you skimmed my book.  Balance those sentences with the powerful title and warning signs may begin to flare.  In my experience, books are skimmed because they are not engaging.  Let's look at the sentences with some modifications.  "If you do a blink-style speed-read of this book, you may think I am not an engaging writer.  But if you keep reading, I'm pretty sure you'll discover that this book is worth it."  It's hard to get past "but if you keep reading."  As I thought about it, my main impulse was to say, "But if you keep reading, I'm pretty sure you'll discover that this book is not really engaging."

Stripped away, Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life is a book centered around the author and his interests.  The writing trends toward creating a persona of a New York City kid turned intellectual but still with his folksy, blue-collar charm.  It comes across feeling as fabricated as Hillary Clinton having a shot of whiskey with rural constituents.  Someone may say a scientist researches their interests, and thus Kenrick's interests are really the foundation of his research.  That may be the case, but I didn't find Kenrick's interests and research too interesting.  Instead, the tone of the book is soapbox.  He's not looking to help people have a more meaningful life, but is defending evolutionary psychology against critics.  Moreover, he is supplanting structure with stories from his life.

Overall, I came away having learned some concepts of evolutionary and cognitive psychology, but it was at a cost.  The cost was wading through a tiresome narrative from a writer who loves spinning yarns, but is not a good storyteller nor an engaging writer.  The cost was being placed in the middle of a brawl between a defensive scientist and the status quo without a background in experimental design.  The cost was a writer who was ready to turn on his reader in the first few pages of the introduction.  With a title like Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life, the reader expects a homerun and deserves at least a double play.  Kenrick displayed his personality with a catchy title, then left the crowd disappointed with a grounder skittering along the infield dirt.

[Troy Blackford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a brisk, enlightening, and easy-to-digest account of a lot of evolutionary psychology theories. I've read a lot of books on this topic before, but this was a good presentation that would serve equally well as a refresher, introduction, or further reading, depending on your level of experience with the field. A pleasantly affable, yet still knowledgeable, tone pervades this work. Recommended to anybody interested the the subject.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much as I wanted to love this book, and in spite of all the enthusiastic reviews (reader, peer and pro no less), I was disappointed by the lack of content and development(a scant 200 pages sans notes) of a fascinating subject. The author runs through each theme with an opening anecdote based on personal experience, a brief description of one or two studies carried out by his own research team or approved affiliates and concludes with yet another anecdote which is meant to illustrate the validity of his findings.
If you have been living in a cave for the past few decades and have never heard of evolutionary psychology, you might find some of the ideas presented as revelatory. The only concept that was new to me (complex dynamical systems and self-organization) was discussed (sort of)in chapter 12.
Finally, while the author's chatty, take-me-for-example style lends some entertainment value to the package, I found the invariably boastful self-references wearisome by the end of the book.

[Clark Hays · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cognitive reductionism with a dash of sexual narcissism

I wasn’t crazy about this book. The simple (too simple?) argument is that evolutionary pressures shape our cognitive and psychological landscape. According to the author, the most significant pressure is related to procreative strategies to ensure we continue our genetic lines. As a result, how we advertise sexual availability, seek, choose and retain partners, and how well we do as parents, are the driving forces behind a whole slew of heuristic biases that, in turn, shape our world.

He uses personal anecdotes and personal accounts of his own experiments to back it all up. As a result, I found it a little light on neuroscience and heavy on preference-based experiments of his own design that (mostly) justify his thesis. It certainly all made sense, but ultimately seemed circular and blindingly reductionist. Maybe we really are that primal and predictable, but it felt stretched thin.

And even though he cautioned the book was purposefully very personal, I found the almost memoir approach (“this is what I see out my window and here are my thoughts on being a father”) off-putting. By the end, as he was building a case for how artists may use creative output as a reproductive success strategy (to stand out from a sea of suitors), I couldn’t help think the book was little more than a tongue in cheek example of creative narcissism as ironic mate magnet.

His sub-selves theory (that the self is composed of a number of a sub-selves, each in charge of various jobs) is interesting, as is the notion of “deep rationality” – that what may seem short-sighted or even self-destructive behavior may have a deeper rationality when seen through the filter of procreative success.

It’s not a bad book, but felt somewhat simple and grounded in a far-too personal look at sexuality that was a bit disturbing at times (I got tired of reading about braless college students and free-loving hippy chicks). I was especially put off by the comparison between long-suffering evolutionary psychologists (imprisoned by outdated academic paradigms) and Nelson Mandela. Just no.

To recap: too much memoir, too much sex, not enough murder and very little meaning of life (except to have sex and raise children, and possibly grandchildren).

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Douglas Kenrick is a pioneer in the field of evolutionary psychology, and despite the criticism it has received for generating too many just-so stories to explain human behavior, I thought he did a good job not only of introducing the discipline, but citing good studies to make his case.

The mainspring of evolutionary psychology is the idea that we are primarily driven by our desire to pass along our genes to future generations, and that men and women have fundamentally different strategies for doing this. Men play around because it profits them to spread their genes to as wide a pool of women as possible, while women have to invest more resources in caring for children, and so they are much more selective about a mate, and use different standards to choose him.

For just one example, both men and women will gravitate toward more attractive faces of the opposite sex, but whereas men will want to have relationships with the most attractive women, that isn't necessarily the case for women, who are more apt to choose older men because they have more status and resources to help in raising a family.

Even when men and women are not conscious of these evolutionary goals, they still drive many of their behaviors, evolutionary psychologists say, and Kenrick goes far beyond sexual relations to explore everything from male aggression to altruism to the different motivations we have at different times of our lives. He even posits a mating strategy difference for why some people are more religious than others.

An entertaining and enlightening book.

[Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful and funny, but the scope seemed too broad. I enjoyed the attention given to personal anecdotes, but the trade-off (perhaps determined by what fit within a couple hundred pages) was that large concepts were introduced without being fully explained and without ever being returned to. Examples: The four "levels of analysis" — functional, historical, developmental, proximate — seem to me, at least according to their brief definitions here, to separate into an overarching evolutionary goal of promoting survival ("functional") and the other three which are simply the time scales across which we measure change (across generations, across one organism's lifetime, or in the immediate moment). I don't know whether my interpretation is correct because not enough time was devoted to this topic in the book. There is also a heavy emphasis on determining what typical male and female humans are like, fueled by interest in deriving evolutionary and psychological conclusions about the majority and a lack of interest about the minority. Kenrick acknowledges this criticism in a sideways manner by relaying an anecdote about a fellow professor who once stood up after his lecture to ask a "question" that was really a "minilecture." He acknowledges the annoyance caused by the timing and format of the professor's objection, but he doesn't grapple with the objection itself.

[DJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had some interesting things to say about social psychology, but fear it is outdated. It also did not do a great job of delineating between homosexual and heterosexual differences when it came to various experiments.

[Diva Prestia · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ 67%

2.5 ⭐️

continuing my journey in my smart girl non fiction era part 3 ✨

well, this man definitely listened in creative writing class when they did the ‘pick a captivating title’ lesson

i’m sorry but this was just so boring. no joke, the more i read this, the sleepier i felt. which sucks a bit cause i was interested in this book’s focus. i hate when these books talk too much about evolution, reproduction, random history, and the animal kingdom. and that was like the majority of what this was 😐 soooo yeah, bad for me here on all fronts. i would be intrigued by the topic of many chapters but then be disappointed by how bored i was while actually reading them. history about anything will always especially bore me, so the historical parts in this had me skimmin. i know i’m biased due to being a history hater, but seriously, these parts dragged big time. the author’s personal anecdotes were mildly fascinating (although sometimes a bit long winded). wish we had gotten more about his mafia uncle though, because obviously. there were some parts where he would swear and use colloquial language, and i wish he had done that more throughout. that would have made it more engaging and added more of a unique perspective (as well as potentially spicing up the draggy history parts 😵‍💫)

also, while i get this is based on evolutionary psychology, i hate the take that all humans desire to reproduce. hate it a lot. cause no the fuck i don’t 😁👍🏻

however, i do love social psychology; it’s the branch of psych that gives you the most interesting fun facts to pull out in conversation ☺️ i wish this book had taken more of a social psych approach, but regardless, it did have some really interesting research findings, including:

~sex~
- men are more easily swayed by attractive women whereas women are more easily swayed by more successful and higher status men (both are susceptible to cheating but there’s a stark difference as to what will lead them to; women are tempted more by the quality of a man’s character while men are tempted more by a woman’s looks)
- comparing themselves to attractive/successful members of their own sex does not generally affect people’s inherent self-concept, however it does affect how they believe others will view them: socially dominant men make men feel insecure while physically attractive women make women feel insecure

~murder~
- 76% of men and, surprisingly to the author, 62% of women have fantasized about committing homicide (he’s surprised by that but to me that is completely understandable)
- an overwhelming majority of the fantasized targets for these homicidal thoughts were men (which is what makes it completely understandable)
- women only outweighed men in one category of desired fantasy homicide victims: romantic partners (considering most of the romantic partners in question are men, this is the most completely understandable of all)

~the meaning of life~
- people are likely to functionally project certain emotions onto others when perceiving them that help make sense of their own emotions; ex. perceiving someone else as angry to make sense of one’s fear
- prejudice towards those of other ethnic groups tends to be forgotten when members of different groups were mixed together in a different group context; ex. participants mixed up members of different races when watching them play on the same basketball team (they become associated with each other in a new context that usurps any bias one initially may have had towards race)

“and of course, women’s relationship partners are men, who seem to inspire more homicidal fantasies in everyone they meet” (super heteronormative but other than that, where’s the lie?) 😌

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

**Simple rules make us profoundly human**

Weaving together the insights of the three interdisciplinary movements of cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and dynamical systems theory, Douglas Kenrick reveals the simple rules explaining some of our most complex human behaviors. His fascinating journey illuminating human drives, emotions, and behaviors is grounded in the following basic principles:
1. Simple selfish rules—looking at human behavior through an evolutionary context reveals a collection of simple and selfish rules that underly our every day decisions as well as human behaviors, including artistic creativity, economic consumption, religion, politics, courtship, and sex.
2. Simple rules do not mean simple people—our brains are composed of multiple subselves (the team player, the go-getter, the night watchman, the compulsive, the swinging single, the good spouse) which creatively adapt to environmental circumstances to help us think and behave in ways that minimize threats and maximize opportunities.
3. Simple does not mean irrational—although our behaviors may seem irrational at first glance, the simple rules from which we operate are actually based in deep rationality.
4. Selfish rules do not create selfish people—although the simple rules inside our heads serve selfish ends and promote our individual reproductive success, they are also what allow us to create satisfying and meaningful relationships which ultimately maximize our long-term genetic success.
5. Simple rules rules unfold into social complexity—these simple rules operating in our individual minds collectively influence the shape and structure of our larger social networks, and produce the complexities of human society, including religion, politics, and economics.

By helping us understand the simple rules that make us profoundly human, Kenrick's book can bring us a few steps closer to deciphering the enigma of the meaning of life (while providing quite a few laughs along the way).

[Kent Winward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literature has long explored the vagaries of the human condition and I guess science decided it was time to catch up a little bit. Some insights from the book that made me stop and take notes:

Conservative attitudes about sex and sexuality may drive religiosity (not the other way around), which may explain my total lack of religiosity.

Behavioral economics has done a great job at pointing out our economic irrationality, but if we dig deeper we may be able to find an underlying rationality in our evolutionary path. Our individual decisions are often dictated by the social implications of what we are doing, rather than our own individual selfish interests, at least to the extent that our selfish interests aren't related to our social well-being, in which case we act quite selfishly.

Multi-directional causality really messes with us. The effect may turn around and influence the cause. All social life has a large degree of multi-directional causality built in. Tremendous complexity can arise out of just a few simple variables. Slight changes can have profound impact.

We are chock full of social conforming mechanisms. We want to conform when we feel threatened. Actually it is surprising that we can rebel against societal norms at all.

The paradox is that complexity can be reduced by avoiding over-simplification. The better we understand the complex systems we live and operate in, the better we can understand the personal implications.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 2nd part of this book was 'better' than the first,
changing my 1 star vote to 2 stars.

Over-all -- I never felt anything got 'fully' developed.
The authors 'defensive-edge' smoothed as the book went along though...(so it became easier to enjoy the content of what he wrote...
But when the author says..."you might think this book is about me" ....but its about YOU...
don't kid yourself....
Sure --we are all connected --and its the information he writes is about all of us...

but you can bet your booty this book is about HIM: "Kenrick" himself. (nothing wrong with that) ---but why did he need to set up a debate?
His style of reaching us as readers was not with the most mature thinking IMO.

Readers want to be on the same side as the author --not have to fight against them...and when the author himself sets up a 'you-against-me' framework from the get go --its a dangerous path.

Yet...I am not trying to be down right harsh--I saw a kind heart & soul in this author also.
His personal stories were engaging --(without any opinions needed) -- his son was adorable. His being a father was heartwarming.

Here are a couple of things 'Kenrick' wrote I liked:

"enjoy the natural pleasures of taking care of the intimate associates you already have."

"slow down..
let your brain's social mechanisms savor the experiences."

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can totally see why Robert Sapolsky gave this his mark of approval. It's irreverent, funny as hell and stinking brilliant! Sure, the blunt, streetwise, Brooklyn guy narrative voice boarders on shtick at times. That being said, it has a important function, to playfully broach the "offensive" (to some) subject matter that is the hallmark of evolutionary psychology (e.g. sex -including homosex- and aggression). Of course the material covered in this book (which I will not summarize), goes far beyond sex and aggression. It always remains grounded in the fundamental evolutionary principles of survival and reproduction. Darwin's dangerous idea clarifies and unifies every domain of science to which it is legitimately applied, with the side benefit that it threatens and offends those among us (conservative and liberal alike) that still cling too tired, romantic notions that human beings are somehow above or outside of the laws that govern the behavior of every other living thing. Maybe there's something wrong with me but I just can't get enough of this stuff. I love this book!

[Chris Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was certainly not the best book I've read on evolutionary psychology; however, Kenrick's book made the concepts personal via examples from his own life. Some may like that; some may not. Additionally, he added complexity theory to the mix, which added a new twist to the theory of EP.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone already familiar with evolutionary psychology as they will likely find it boring and lacking in new material. On the other hand, Kendrick's book is useful as an introduction since he does a great job of making the concepts understandable for the non-specialist.

Kendrick also provides some historical insights into the early reception, or should I say vitriolic rejection, of EP by the academic community. This material is not unique to his book, but his delivery of it was more interesting than any I have found elsewhere.

[Charlene · Rating 1 out of 5]

self congratulatory book with questionable science based on serious bias and extremely outdated notions of evolution and what is 'natural". entertaining? yes. annoying? yes! some of the studies were good but not worth the rest. this book is GREAT if you want stuff to argue against:)

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

As expected I found listening to this audiobook great. Psychology is ever intriguing and I can't get enough. I had no idea that murderous thoughts were to be had by more than the usual suspects for these things. I will forever remember Maslow's hierarchy pyramid.

[Jeff LeBrun · Rating 1 out of 5]

Narcissistic anecdotes, old research, and nothing about the meaning of life.

[Rossdavidh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would be a fair question why we should care about the opinion of a psychologist, about the meaning of life. Psychology has Sigmund Freud and B.F. Skinner to answer for, so it's not as if its record on getting things right is without blemish. Moreover, science proceeds best when its focus is, not on the most important questions one can think of, but the most important questions one can think of a good way to test the answers to (right now). Sex and murder are big enough topics; the meaning of life seems entirely out of bounds.

However, it so happens that there has been some reasonably useful work in psychology in the last half century or so. Behaviorism peaked decades ago, and one of the schools of thought that has replaced it is sometimes called "positive psychology". Roughly speaking, this is the idea that psychology should spend some time researching how sane people actually think.

An early advocate of positive psychology was Abraham Maslow, he of the famous pyramid with "immediate physiological needs" at the bottom, "safety", "love", "esteem", and "self actualization" at the top. Kenrick is of the first generation of researchers to enter the field when positive psychology, if not yet the dominant school of thought, was at least there for them to discover. In this book, he gives us a good outline of what the last half century has brought us to understand, about how sane people actually think.

First of all, it is a little more complicated than Maslow depicted it. We don't actually stop thinking about our immediate physiological needs, generally, even if we are spending a good amount of our time pursuing self-actualization, and self-actualization may not be the pinnacle of our psychological needs. But there are at least two other major outside influences that have had an impact on psychology in the last half century.

The first is evolution. This may seem odd, since evolution was an accepted fact among scientists (including most psychologists) since well before Freud. However, there wasn't really a lot of attention paid to the impact of evolution on human psychology, for a long time. For example, why do we have a subconscious? How do our subconscious drives get impacted by our (evolutionary) need to find mates, have children, raise them, and so forth? There is, in the world of evolutionary biology, quite a lot of violence as well; how did that impact how our human brains work today?

The second, is the more recent fact that we have just begun to get a peek at how the brain works, not just using the previous evidence of negative cases (where, say, a part of the brain is damaged by violence or a stroke, and we see what that person cannot do any more), but also in healthy, living brains. We can use (still relatively primitive, but improving) imaging techniques to see which parts of the brain are working harder when we, for example, make moral decisions, or do math, or even make mathematical decisions with moral implications. What we find, is that there are a lot of different systems in the brain, and they aren't always working at the same level of activity, or pushing in the same direction.

Why do people practice conspicuous consumption? Why do young men resort to violence more often than young women (given that guns make physical musculature pretty much irrelevant nowadays)? Why does a typical person's behavior in regard to spending, or violence, change as they age (hint: it's not just because of learning)? My favorite part of the book was probably Kenrick's response to "behavioral economics", the movement which is a response to neo-classical and Keynesian economics in a way similar to how positive psychology is a response to Freud and Skinner. Kenrick describes behavioral economics as "half-right", and does a good job of explaining which half is which. It put into print, for the first time I've seen, some of the same reservations I've had about behavioral economics, notwithstanding the fact that it is a great improvement over what came before.

The trickiest part of any book like this one, which is trying to tell us about a lot of science (and a lot of science history), is striking the right balance between detail and summary, numbers and anecdotes. Kenrick does a good job of it, using his own life to illustrate the principles in a way that is often humorous as well as pertinent. He also gives some of the history of the divisiveness of the science, which from the late 60's up to recent times has seen a few swings back and forth politically. Somewhere in there, Kenrick answers the question I raised in the beginning of this review.

Because, when you write about psychology, in reality you are nearly always talking about the meaning of life. What does a properly functioning, healthy human brain do? It figures out what to do with the life it's living; it finds a way to find meaning in it. Read up on how that can work.

[Navanjana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A summary of some main ideas that are stated in the book:
-men more inclined to go against conformity in mating frame of mind while females conform in such situations
-decision bias depends on sex, stage of life history, chronic mating strategies, motivational subselves
-older men seeking younger females is a cross-cultural phenomenon due to the status and availability of male maturity and resource providence to be a suitable father. As well as female maturity at a younger age and selectivity of a suitable partner that provide for offspring.
-Altruism and kinship are key roles in different relationships
-Religious oppression of sexuality can lead to social networks where men and women marry young and start families without pursuing further education (secondary education/pHD). However, such communities have interconnections that makes a social network providing services such as babysitting.

[Jessada Karnjana · Rating 5 out of 5]

เป็นหนังสือจิตวิทยาเชิงวิวัฒนาการ (evolutionary psychology) ที่อ่านสนุกมาก evolutionary psychology เป็นแนวความคิดที่อธิบายพฤติกรรมของคนและสภาพจิตใจโดยอาศัยหลักการที่ผสมผสานระหว่าง evolution biology กับ social psychology จิตใจของคนไม่ได้กำเนิดมาอย่างผ้าขาวซึ่งจะแต่งแต้มอะไรลงไปภายหลังก็ได้ และมิใช่ชุดคำสั่งสำเร็จรูปที่ถูกโปรแกรมมาพร้อมสรรพอย่างหุ่นยนต์ วิวัฒนาการทำให้เรามีกลไกหรือชุดคำสั่งพื้นฐานที่มีส่วนกระทบต่อการตัดสินใจติดกับสมองอยู่แล้ว โดยเฉพาะพฤติกรรมที่ทำให้โอกาสในการสืบพันธุ์มีค่าสูงสุด ตรงนี้สะท้อนให้เห็นความใกล้ชิดกันหรือมีมอดูลร่วมกันระหว่างสัตว์ต่างสายพันธุ์ ผู้เขียน Douglas T. Kenrick เป็นโปรเฟสเซอร์ที่มหาวิทยาลัยรัฐแอริโซนา พาผู้อ่านสำรวจผ่านข้อสรุปจากงานวิจัยของแกเองเป็นหลัก ตั้งแต่เรื่องเพศ ด้วยคำถามความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างความแตกต่างระหว่างเพศกับพฤติกรรมในการเลือกคู่ ทำไมผู้ชายชอบผู้หญิงหน้าตาดี ส่วนผู้หญิงชอบผู้ชายมีฐานะทางสังคม ผู้ชายยิ่งแก่ยิ่งชอบเด็กลงเรื่อย ๆ ...

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[Mimi Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kendrick says the worst advice he’s ever gotten is: “you’ve got to do what’s right for you”
I agree - that’s an easy rationalization for potentially bad and disruptive behavior.
Better advice he says is “you ought to do what’s right for those you love”
And you, and you.

I appreciated that the authors mentor is Bob Cialdini - and see a lot of what he wrote about here, too, and expanded on.

Although it felt like many of the conclusions presented here were anecdotal, they are back by research - though certainly mostly research oriented with a particular cultural skew. It’s still valuable albeit catering more to a pop-culture layperson audience.

I enjoyed this book.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting material overall, but it did lose my attention more than a few times. I don't remember when I began it, but it's taken me probably over a year to finish. I will definitely remember the information, either as trivia or for use in intellectual discussion. I am no psychologist (though I am an evolutionary biologist) but the information was written simply enough for myself, and I believe non-scientists, to understand easily. Another bonus was despite losing my attention, picking it back up was easy. I didn't ever feel I had to go back to refresh.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brisk and enjoyable read, with some interesting summaries of studies into human motivations. However, the premise/argument is too simplistic, seeming to argue that every dang action is ultimately connected to sexual reproduction in some way. Kenrick mentions that one of his friends at one time accused him of being reductionist, and, judging from this book, this seems like a more than fair criticism. Overall, however, this was an enjoyable introduction to evolutionary psychology.

[David Msomba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evolutionary psychology 101,The author tries to explain how throughout history evolution has shaped animal behavior including us humans ,some of the ideas in the book are old/I already encountered them here&there and some ideas are new,I encountered them for the first time,so revisiting old ideas and learning new one is what made this an interesting reading.....

[David Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

who~ This book can protan to every male so we can know about ourselves better.

what~ this book has a lot for young men to learn from for us to learn from to grow

Were~ it takes place in the 2019

When~^

Why~this was made to show men how we might subchosle be driven by sex

I recommend this book to young people of my age.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good broad points and a good primer for these concepts. Bogs down with with repetition and too much setup (i.e. "as i will cover in a future chapter / later in this chapter" etc. just cover it already, that's why I'm reading your book), as well as more personal data about the author himself than is probably necessary.

[Book Shark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sex, Murder and the Meaning of Life by Douglas T. Kenrick

"Sex, Murder and the Meaning of Life" is a book about the study of the underside of human nature and then some. Using a modern form of psychology grounded in evolutionary biology, cognitive science and new research Mr. Kenrick provides the answers of some of the most interesting aspects of human nature. This 256-page book is composed of the following twelve chapters: 1. Standing in the Gutter: How did an innocent young student accidentally fall in with a band of intellectual revolutionaries?; 2. Why Playboy is Bad for Your Mental Mechanisms: When is beauty bad for you?; 3. Homicidal Fantasies: Why have most of us had at least one fantasy about committing murder; 4. Outgroup Hatred in the Blink of an Eye: Why can't we all just get along; 5. The Mind as a Coloring Book: Why doesn't cultural variation support the blank-slate view of the mind? Ch. 6. Subselves: The three faces of thee; 7. Reconstructing Maslow's Pyramid: Where are the missing bricks in the classic pyramid of needs?; 8. How the Mind Warps: Why do men and women forget different people and regret different things?; 9. Peacocks, Porsches, and Pablo Picasso: Why do men go out of their way to avoid a Consumer Reports Best Buy?; 10. Sex and Religion: When is godliness just another mating strategy?; 11. Deep Rationality and Evolutionary Economics: Why are behavioral economists only half right when they say that our economic choices are irrational? and 12. Bad Crowds, Chaotic Attractors, and Humans as Ant: Why your parents were right about the company you keep.

Positives:
1. As accessible a book that you will find. Ideal for the masses.
2. Engaging, humorous prose that makes for a fun read.
3. Considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern evolutionary psychology. Always good to ground your research on the best that science has to offer and the theory of evolution is one of the bedrocks.
4. Great use of real-life examples (some eye-opening revelations) that adds further flavor to the fascinating world of human nature. The use of self deprecation adds an amusing human element as well.
5. Does a good job of contrasting "old" views with modern views of human nature.
6. Interesting differences between men and women. Including the always interesting mating strategies.
7. A look at why mammalian mothers nurse their offspring.
8. The impact of economic threat to humans.
9. The psychological bias called outgroup homogeneity. What triggers prejudice.
10. A look at disgust.
11. A different way of explaining brain modules (subselves) and how the brain processes information.
12. Debunks some of the old views of psychology.
13. The domain-specific theory explained...the confederation of modular subselves.
14. Interesting look at homosexuality and the modular mind. Actually wanted more info on this but a good appetizer.
15. Inclusive fitness, good stuff.
16. A list of some subselves and their roles.
17. An updated Maslow's pyramid.
18. Life history theory and implications for human motives.
19. Psychology research provides interesting tidbits, "as people age, they tend to become increasingly concerned with the welfare of other people."
20. Cognitive psychology and what it is concerned about.
21. Wisdom, "Our brains seem to allocate resources in ways designed to best promote survival and reproduction".
22. What evolution is truly about.
23. Sexual attraction in humans, interesting.
24. Scientists and their interest in the genesis of religious beliefs, always a fascinating topic.
25. The reproductive religiosity model.
26. The psychology of economics.
27. The impact of social groups.
28. The bedrock principles of evolutionary biology and how they relate to the meaning of life.
29. Great references.

Negatives:
1. The book lacks depth. Most of the topics are covered superficially.
2. I'm an avid reader and I must say a lot of the topics covered in this book have been covered in other books and dare I say with more depth. That being said, if you are casual reader then by all means do read the book.
3. There is speculation. When you use the term, "My guess is this..."
4. I can do without some of the anecdotes pertaining to stereotypes.
5. A good book but ultimately I wasn't intellectually fulfilled.

In summary, this was a fun book to read. It covers many topics of interest and does so with humor while providing insight. This book is ideal for the masses; it covers some profound topics in an accessible manner. That being said if you are an avid reader of this genre I fear this book may disappoint you. It lacks depth and teases you with some interesting topics only to cover it superficially. If you are a casual reader, this book is perfect for you. On the other hand, those expecting a more technical and intellectual book will be disappointed.

Further suggestions: "Human" by Michael S. Gazzaniga, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature" by Steven Pinker, "The Believing Brain..." by Michael Shermer is superb, "The Brain and the Meaning of Life" by Paul Thagard, ""Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality" by Patricia S. Churchland, and "The Belief Instinct" by Jesse Bering.

[Bruno Zogma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author says that people have homicidal fantasies. I value the effort that goes into getting a degree and conducting ethical studies that make it legal for him to say that people have homicidal fantasies. This is good information.

[Derek Henderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

How not to write popular science. Downright embarrassing in places. If Kenrick counts as a top researcher in evolutionary psychology, I think we can safely discount the entire field. Feels at times like a self-published book, minimally edited.