Mathematical Models of Social Evolution: A Guide for the Perplexed |  | Authors: Richard McElreath, Robert Boyd
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 128659
Media: Paperback
Pages: 425
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0226558274
Dewey Decimal Number: 591.56015118
EAN: 9780226558271
ASIN: 0226558274
Publication Date: March 15, 2007
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Product Description
Over the last several decades, mathematical models have become central to the study of social evolution, both in biology and the social sciences. But students in these disciplines often seriously lack the tools to understand them. A primer on behavioral modeling that includes both mathematics and evolutionary theory, Mathematical Models of Social Evolution aims to make the student and professional researcher in biology and the social sciences fully conversant in the language of the field.
Teaching biological concepts from which models can be developed, Richard McElreath and Robert Boyd introduce readers to many of the typical mathematical tools that are used to analyze evolutionary models and end each chapter with a set of problems that draw upon these techniques. Mathematical Models of Social Evolution equips behaviorists and evolutionary biologists with the mathematical knowledge to truly understand the models on which their research depends. Ultimately, McElreath and Boyd’s goal is to impart the fundamental concepts that underlie modern biological understandings of the evolution of behavior so that readers will be able to more fully appreciate journal articles and scientific literature, and start building models of their own. |
| Customer Reviews:
 A Pedagogical Tour de Force August 29, 2008
Herbert Gintis (Northampton, MA USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Robert Boyd is a professor of anthropology at UCLA, and McElreath is his former student, now professor of Anthropology at UC Davis. Boyd, together with Peter Richerson, were early contributors to a dynamic (and correct, I believe) version of sociobiology known as gene-culture coevolution. The theory developed in this book is relevant for anyone interested in social behavior, whether they are biologists, anthropologists, or have their training in another behavioral discipline.
I have written an extended review for the journal Evolutionary Psychology, which should appear in the year 2008.
Excellent addition to cultural evolution September 27, 2007
Michelle Richardson
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
For a mathematically-challenged individual and a novice to cultural evolution, the models explained were tough but the explanations of each were invaluable in providing an understanding of the social world, particularly conflict and cooperation. Strongly recommended to those interested in learning more about social and cultural evolution.
Wonderful Hands-On Guide to the Math of Cultural Evolution! May 2, 2007
Timothy M. Waring (Tamil Nadu, India)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This concise book will allow any mathematically competent but sociobiologically inexperienced reader to dive right into the debates about human evolution. Although the many of the models described in McElreath and Boyd's Guide for the Perplexed come from evolutionary biology and were conceived as genetic models, a great deal of them apply without alteration to related processes in the social world. Take the prisoners dilemma, the battle of the sexes, the Price Equation, or the Phillip Sidney game, honest signaling, and social learning. Everything inside has direct bearing on how we should understand the evolution of social systems, it's just that the *math* has already been worked out by others in the biological sciences.
The social sciences have much to gain from game theory, and this book is a concise, complete and speedy primer.
A fantastic introduction to theoretical sociobiology April 10, 2007
Kevin R. Foster (Harvard University, MA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book provides a thorough, lucid and near-complete guide to the theories used by sociobiologists like no book has achieved before it. As a working biologist, I strongly recommend it to those interested in why animals and indeed all organisms cooperate, or conflict.
 Perplexing indeed April 8, 2007
Tihamer von Ghyczy (Charlottesville, VA)
10 out of 30 found this review helpful
The mismatch between title and content is perplexing enough: the book is a summary of biological and game-theoretical modeling that has been done and more competently described by others decades ago. These models have little, if any, connection to what one would consider as "social evolution." The words "society" or "social" do not even appear in the index. The index term closest to the equally absent "culture" is "covariance genetics." Welcome to social evolution!
Even more perplexing: why should a reader perplexed by society be guided away from society and into genetics by, of all people, two anthropologists?
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