Skip to content
You are not logged in |Login  
     
Limit search to available items
Record:   Prev Next
Resources
More Information
Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Lents, Nathan H., author.

Title Not so different : finding human nature in animals / Nathan H. Lents.

Publication Info. New York : Columbia University Press, 2016.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (x, 349 pages)
text file PDF
Physical Medium polychrome
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Introduction. Emotions, drive, and the brain -- 1. Why do we play? -- 2. Animal systems of justice -- 3. Moral animals -- 4. Sexual politics -- 5. Do animals fall in love? -- 6. The agony of grief -- 7. Jealous beasts : the dark side of love -- 8. Darker still : envy, greed, and power -- 9. Afraid of the dark -- 10. The richness of animal communication -- Epilogue. Metacognition, self-awareness, and the mind.
Summary Animals fall in love, establish rules for fair play, exchange valued goods and services, hold "funerals" for fallen comrades, deploy sex as a weapon, and communicate with one another using rich vocabularies. Animals also get jealous and violent or greedy and callous and develop irrational phobias and prejudices, just like us. Monkeys address inequality, wolves miss each other, elephants grieve for their dead, and prairie dogs name the humans they encounter. Human and animal behavior is not as different as once believed. In Not So Different, the biologist Nathan H. Lents argues that the same evolutionary forces of cooperation and competition have shaped both humans and animals. Identical emotional and instinctual drives govern our actions. By acknowledging this shared programming, the human experience no longer seems unique, but in that loss we gain a fuller understanding of such phenomena as sibling rivalry and the biological basis of grief, helping us lead more grounded, moral lives among animals, our closest kin. Through a mix of colorful reporting and rigorous scientific research, Lents describes the exciting strides scientists have made in decoding animal behavior and bringing the evolutionary paths of humans and animals closer together. He marshals evidence from psychology, evolutionary biology, cognitive science, anthropology, and ethology to further advance this work and to drive home the truth that we are distinguished from animals only in degree, not in kind.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Language In English.
Subject Animal behavior.
Animal behavior.
Psychology, Comparative.
Psychology, Comparative.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: Lents, Nathan H. Not so different. New York : Columbia University Press, [2016] 9780231178327 (DLC) 2015039849 (OCoLC)930681938
ISBN 0231541759 (electronic book)
9780231541756 (electronic book)
9780231178327
0231178328
Standard No. 40026035346
10.7312/lent17832