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Social Evolution
Pp. xviii, 462; 200+ black-and-white photos and line-drawings. Original color pictorial stiff wrappers, sm 4to. Social Evolution offers a clear and up-to-date introduction to the growing field of sociobiology. The book emphasizes topics especially relevant to human behavior, including kindship, parent-offspring relations, parental investment, sexual selection, mate choice, cooperation, and deceit and self-deception (from the rear cover blurb). Warmly inscribed by the author, Bob Trivers to the late Mike Newcomer, an expert on whale behavior on the title page.
479 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1985
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About the author
Robert Trivers
14 books111 followersRobert L. Trivers (born February 19, 1943, pronounced /ˈtrɪvɚz/) is an American evolutionary biologist and sociobiologist, most noted for proposing the theories of reciprocal altruism (1971), parental investment (1972), and parent-offspring conflict (1974). Other areas in which he has made influential contributions include an adaptive view of self-deception (first described in 1976) and intragenomic conflict. Along with George C. Williams, Trivers is arguably one of the most influential evolutionary theorists alive today.
A 1961 graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover, Trivers went to Harvard to study mathematics, but wound up studying U.S. history in preparation to become a lawyer. He received his A.B. degree in History on June 16, 1965 from Harvard University. He took a psychology class after suffering a breakdown, and was very unimpressed with the state of psychology. He was prevented from getting into Yale law school by his breakdown, and wound up with a job writing social science textbooks for children (never published, due in part to presenting evolution by natural selection as fact). This exposure to evolutionary theory led him to do graduate work with Ernst Mayr at Harvard 1968-1972. He earned his Ph.D. in Biology on June 15, 1972 also from Harvard University. He was on faculty at Harvard 1973-1978, then moved to UC Santa Cruz.
He met Huey P. Newton, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, in 1978 when Newton applied (while in prison) to do a reading course with him as part of a graduate degree in History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz. Trivers and Newton became close friends: Newton was even godfather to one of Trivers' daughters. Trivers joined the Black Panther Party in 1979. Trivers and Newton published an analysis of the role of self-deception by the flight crew in the crash of Air Florida Flight 90.
Trivers was a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz 1978-1994. He is currently a Rutgers University notable faculty member. In the 2008-2009 academic year, he is a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin).
He wrote the original foreword to Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, and was recently awarded the 2007 Crafoord Prize in Biosciences for "his fundamental analysis of social evolution, conflict and cooperation".
—— From Wikipedia
A 1961 graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover, Trivers went to Harvard to study mathematics, but wound up studying U.S. history in preparation to become a lawyer. He received his A.B. degree in History on June 16, 1965 from Harvard University. He took a psychology class after suffering a breakdown, and was very unimpressed with the state of psychology. He was prevented from getting into Yale law school by his breakdown, and wound up with a job writing social science textbooks for children (never published, due in part to presenting evolution by natural selection as fact). This exposure to evolutionary theory led him to do graduate work with Ernst Mayr at Harvard 1968-1972. He earned his Ph.D. in Biology on June 15, 1972 also from Harvard University. He was on faculty at Harvard 1973-1978, then moved to UC Santa Cruz.
He met Huey P. Newton, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, in 1978 when Newton applied (while in prison) to do a reading course with him as part of a graduate degree in History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz. Trivers and Newton became close friends: Newton was even godfather to one of Trivers' daughters. Trivers joined the Black Panther Party in 1979. Trivers and Newton published an analysis of the role of self-deception by the flight crew in the crash of Air Florida Flight 90.
Trivers was a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz 1978-1994. He is currently a Rutgers University notable faculty member. In the 2008-2009 academic year, he is a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin).
He wrote the original foreword to Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, and was recently awarded the 2007 Crafoord Prize in Biosciences for "his fundamental analysis of social evolution, conflict and cooperation".
—— From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 8, 2010
An excellent introductory textbook that doesn't read like a textbook. If you ever wonder why you do the things you do, this book offers a window into the complex world of animal behavior and the factors that shape and manipulate it.
October 13, 2012
I read this 20 years ago and today I still find myself thinking about it. Very good book!
November 7, 2025
Reading Robert Trivers’s Social Evolution was more than just an exploration of biology, it felt like uncovering the hidden architecture of behavior itself.
I didn’t only learn about species and their evolutionary strategies.. I began to see how deeply these same mechanisms are anchored in human life. What we often label as emotional, moral, or irrational turns out to have an evolutionary blueprint, shaped by the same survival instincts that drive all living organisms.
The book’s later chapters on reciprocity, deceit, and self-deception fascinated me most. They showed that cooperation, manipulation, and even the lies we tell ourselves aren’t moral failures, they’re adaptive behaviors, refined through evolution to maintain social balance and self-preservation.
It’s a work that constantly provokes new questions:
Why do we help others? Why do we manipulate truth — even within ourselves? How much of what we call “choice” is really biology, still operating beneath consciousness?
Trivers manages to weave evolutionary biology, psychology, and philosophy into one thread, exposing not only how nature functions, but how we function.
After finishing it, I don’t just look at animals differently, I look at humans differently too, including myself.
I didn’t only learn about species and their evolutionary strategies.. I began to see how deeply these same mechanisms are anchored in human life. What we often label as emotional, moral, or irrational turns out to have an evolutionary blueprint, shaped by the same survival instincts that drive all living organisms.
The book’s later chapters on reciprocity, deceit, and self-deception fascinated me most. They showed that cooperation, manipulation, and even the lies we tell ourselves aren’t moral failures, they’re adaptive behaviors, refined through evolution to maintain social balance and self-preservation.
It’s a work that constantly provokes new questions:
Why do we help others? Why do we manipulate truth — even within ourselves? How much of what we call “choice” is really biology, still operating beneath consciousness?
Trivers manages to weave evolutionary biology, psychology, and philosophy into one thread, exposing not only how nature functions, but how we function.
After finishing it, I don’t just look at animals differently, I look at humans differently too, including myself.
September 21, 2022
Got to be one of the best books I've ever read. It explains so much about how and why society is organized the way it is!
July 18, 2008
This was my intro text to evolutionary biology. I really enjoyed this class and the discussions on the text.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews