The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics

Science News,  Feb 2, 2008  

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THE MIND OF THE MARKET: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics MICHAEL SHERMER

Evolution has made people into the jealous, materialistic capitalists they are today. So claims Shermer in this book on marketplace psychology. He adds, however, that people act greedily or illogically about money because of a virtuous nature. It is humankind's tribal notions of altruism that guide individuals to act naively as though others had their best interests in mind. Sherman, bestselling author and a professor of economics, supports his thesis with information garnered from psychology research ranging from primate studies to human-brain scans. Some of his inferences about evolutionary drive are contentious. He describes, for example, "the biochemical rush of sex when choosing trading partners." Nonetheless, the book provides a thorough account of what's going on in a branch of psychology dedicated to understanding the natural origins of economic decisions. Times Books, 2008, 310 p., hardcover, $26.00.

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