The Truth about Cinderella: A Darwinian View of Parental Love (Darwinism Today Series)

A child is one hundred times more likely to be abused or killed by a stepparent than by a genetic parent, say two scientists in this startling book. Martin Daly and Margo Wilson show that the mistreatment of stepchildren, long a staple of folk tales, has a solid basis in fact; Daly and Wilson apply the perspective of evolutionary psychology to investigate why stepparenthood is different from genetic parenthood and why steprelationships succeed or fail. "A child is one hundred times more likely to be abused or killed by a stepparent than by a genetic parent, say two scientists in this startling book. Martin Daly and Margo Wilson show that the mistreatment to stepchildren, long a staple of folktales, has a solid basis in fact. Daly and Wilson apply the perspective of evolutionary psychology to investigate why stepparenthood is different from genetic parenthood and why steprelationships succeed or fail."--Jacket

A child is one hundred times more likely to be abused or killed by a stepparent than by a genetic parent, say two scientists in this startling book. Martin Daly and Margo Wilson show that the mistreatment to stepchildren, long a staple of folktales, has a solid basis in fact. Daly and Wilson apply the perspective of evolutionary psychology to investigate why stepparenthood is different from genetic parenthood and why steprelationships succeed or fail.

Front cover Contents Foreword 1. Folk Tales 2. Behaving Like Animals 3. Human Stepfamilies 4. The Truth about Cinderella 5. Parental Priorities 6. Cinderella Denied 7. Living in Step Suggestions for Further Reading Back cover The abused stepchild is one of the stock characters of folklore.