Personality: Contemporary Theory and Research (with InfoTrac) Book

This was a really well written book that walks the reader through different approaches to evolution, making it quite clear what exactly consists of a strong answer, and what is a weak one. This lets the reader walk away knowing not just a collection of facts about exotic fish, but also decent criteria for interpreting new data.

While I give this 5 stars, I did not necessarily agree with everything being said, or specifically, how it was said. The author systematically explains why proper evolution studies must always take into account the "how" of the process and not just the adaptive potential. I think at times he is a little too critical towards adaptationists, and could maybe try a little harder to recognize the kind of approach they take. While he uses examples such as peacock feathers and transgendered fish to point out the inadequacy of "why" questions when the explanation lies in the "how", there are many, obvious, instances in which asking "why" is still the right question, like why do giraffes have long necks.

That being said, despite him taking an awfully long time to get to the point of the title, I think he did a very systematic, thorough job of explaining his point, and by doing so, reveals how truly artificial his "opponents" line of thought could be. This whole book is essentially a systematic criticism towards those scientists who try to explain biological phenomenon based on their adaptive "use", while under the flawed assumption that since everything evolves, everything must be useful. He insists that evolution can only be understood through the history of each species, and their biology, whereas sociobiologists and co. try their best to find answers in just-so stories. I find this book to be a very important criticism to such an approach, especially when applied to human behavior, which is becoming more and more popular, but remains as unscientific as ever. This culminates in many evolutionary psychologists trying to explain gender differences through evolution, and not the more obvious candidate of culture.