Sociobiology: The Abridged Edition

View a collection of videos on Professor Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities" John Pfeiffer "Wilson turns a connoisseur's eye on contemporary societies, judging them on the basis of how completely individuals work together, how effectively individuals or ego has been modified for the good of the whole...In any case, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis has much to say about what is happening to us here and now. It is devoted largely to discussion of factors favoring cooperation - defense against predators, outcompeting competitors, more effective feeding and breeding, and so on...Actually the book may be regarded as an evolutionary event in itself, announcing for all who can hear that we are on the verge of breakthroughs in the effort to understand our place in the scheme of things." Books of the Century, The New York Times, July, 1975 Edward O. Wilson - Sociobiology......Page 1 Preface to the Abridged Edition......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 PART I - Social Evolution......Page 12 CHAPTER 1: The Morality of the Gene......Page 13 Basic Definitions......Page 17 The Multiplier Effect......Page 19 The Evolutionary Pacemaker and Social Drift......Page 20 The Concept of Adaptive Demography......Page 21 Qualities of Sociality......Page 22 The Concept of Behavioral Scaling......Page 24 The Dualities of Evolutionary Biology......Page 25 Phylogenetic Inertia......Page 30 Defense against Predators......Page 33 Increased Competitive Ability......Page 36 Increased Feeding Efficiency......Page 37 Increased Reproductive Efficiency......Page 38 Improved Population Stability......Page 39 Modification of the Environment......Page 40 The Reversibility of Social Evolution......Page 41 Microevolution......Page 42 Phenodeviants and Genetic Assimilation......Page 44 Inbreeding and Kinship......Page 45 Population Growth......Page 49 Emigration......Page 51 Competition......Page 52 Intercompensation......Page 53 Life Tables......Page 54 Reproductive Effort......Page 56 r and K Selection......Page 57 Group Selection......Page 60 Interdemic (Interpopulation) Selection......Page 61 Kin Selection......Page 65 Reciprocal Altruism......Page 68 Thwarting Predators......Page 69 Cooperative Breeding......Page 70 Food Sharing......Page 71 The Field of Righteousness......Page 72 PART II - Social Mechanisms......Page 75 CHAPTER 6: Group Size and Reproduction......Page 77 The Determinants of Group Size......Page 78 Adjustable Group Size......Page 81 The Multiplication and Reconstitution of Societies......Page 82 CHAPTER 7: The Development and Modification of Social Behavior......Page 84 Tracking the Environment with Evolutionary Change......Page 85 The Hierarchy of Organismic Responses......Page 86 Hormones and Behavior......Page 87 The Directedness of Learning......Page 89 The Relative Importance of Learning......Page 90 Socialization......Page 91 Play......Page 94 Tradition, Culture, and Invention......Page 96 Human versus Animal Communication......Page 100 Discrete versus Graded Signals......Page 102 Signal Specificity......Page 103 The Increase of Information......Page 104 Increase in Signal Duration......Page 105 Composite Signals......Page 106 Metacommunication......Page 107 Context......Page 108 Mass Communication......Page 109 The Functions of Communication......Page 110 Individual and Class Recognition......Page 111 Status Signaling......Page 112 Grooming......Page 113 Assembly and Recruitment......Page 115 Nest-Relief Ceremony......Page 116 Reproduction in the Ring Dove......Page 117 Whale Songs......Page 118 Gorilla and Chimpanzee Displays......Page 119 CHAPTER 10: Communication: Origins and Evolution......Page 120 Chemical Communication......Page 123 Tactile Communication......Page 125 Evolutionary Competition among Sensory Channels......Page 126 CHAPTER 11: Aggression......Page 128 Aggression and Competition......Page 129 Direct Aggression......Page 130 The Limits of Aggression......Page 131 External Environmental Contingencies......Page 132 Learning and Endocrine Change......Page 133 Human Aggression......Page 136 CHAPTER 12: Social Spacing, Including Territory......Page 138 The Multiple Forms of Territory......Page 139 The Theory of Territorial Evolution......Page 142 The Elastic Disk......Page 144 Nested Territories......Page 145 Territories and Population Regulation......Page 146 CHAPTER 13: Dominance Systems......Page 147 Domestic Fowl (Gallus gallus)......Page 148 Paper Wasps (Polistes)......Page 149 The Will to Power......Page 150 The Advantages of Being Dominant......Page 151 The Compensations of Being Subordinate......Page 152 The Determinants of Dominance......Page 153 Scaling in Aggressive Behavior......Page 154 CHAPTER 14: Roles and Castes......Page 156 The Adaptive Significance of Roles......Page 157 The Optimization of Caste Systems......Page 158 Roles in Vertebrate Societies......Page 160 Control......Page 163 Roles in Human Societies......Page 164 CHAPTER 15: Sex and Society......Page 165 Evolution of the Sex Ratio......Page 166 Sexual Selection......Page 168 The Theory of Parental Investment......Page 172 The Origins of Polygamy, Monogamy, and Pair Bonding......Page 174 Communal Displays......Page 175 Other Ultimate Causes of Sexual Dimorphism......Page 176 The Ecology of Parental Care......Page 178 Parent-Offspring Conflict......Page 180 Parental Care and Social Evolution in the Insects and Mammals......Page 183 Alloparental Care......Page 184 Adoption......Page 185 PART III - The Social Species......Page 187 CHAPTER 17: The Four Pinnacles of Social Evolution......Page 189 CHAPTER 18: The Colonial Invertebrates......Page 193 The Adaptive Basis of Coloniality......Page 194 General Evolutionary Trends in Coloniality......Page 195 The Coelenterates......Page 196 The Ectoprocts......Page 197 What Is a Social Insect?......Page 199 The Organization of Insect Societies......Page 201 The Prime Movers of Higher Social Evolution in Insects......Page 203 The Social Wasps......Page 206 The Ants......Page 209 The Social Bees......Page 211 The Termites......Page 213 Fish Schools......Page 217 The Social Behavior of Frogs......Page 219 The Social Behavior of Reptiles......Page 222 CHAPTER 21: The Birds......Page 224 The Evolution of Cooperative Breeding......Page 225 The Jays......Page 228 CHAPTER 22: Evolutionary Trends within the Mammals......Page 230 General Patterns......Page 231 The Whiptail Wallaby (Macropus parryi)......Page 234 Dolphins......Page 235 CHAPTER 23: The Ungulates and Elephants......Page 240 Chevrotains (Tragulidae)......Page 241 The Vicuna (Vicugna vicugna)......Page 244 The Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus )......Page 245 The African Elephant (Loxodonta africana)......Page 250 CHAPTER 24: The Carnivores......Page 252 The Lion (Panthera leo)......Page 253 Wolves and African Wild Dogs (Canidae)......Page 256 The Distinctive Social Traits of Primates......Page 261 The Ecology of Social Behavior in Primates......Page 264 The Lesser Mouse Lemur (Microcebus murinus)......Page 266 The Orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)......Page 267 The Ring-Tailed Lemur (Lemur catta)......Page 268 The Hamadryas Baboon (Papio hamadryas)......Page 269 The Eastern Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei)......Page 274 The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)......Page 275 CHAPTER 26: Man: From Sociobiology to Sociology......Page 281 Plasticity of Social Organization......Page 282 Barter and Reciprocal Altruism......Page 285 Bonding, Sex, and Division of Labor......Page 287 Role Playing and Polyethism......Page 288 Communication......Page 290 Culture, Ritual, and Religion......Page 294 Ethics......Page 297 Esthetics......Page 298 Territoriality and Tribalism......Page 299 Early Social Evolution......Page 300 Later Social Evolution......Page 306 Increased Population Density and Agriculture......Page 307 Warfare......Page 308 The Future......Page 309 Glossary......Page 315 Bibliography......Page 337 Index......Page 359