Animals - Habitats & Behaviors - General & Miscellaneous, Animal Behavior & Psychology

The Imitation Factor: Evolution Beyond the Gene

Name: The Imitation Factor: Evolution Beyond the Gene
Author: Lee Alan Dugatkin
ISBN: 9780684864532

by Lee Alan Dugatkin

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Overview

Is imitation really the best compliment? As Lee Alan Dugatkin's powerful work of cutting-edge science reveals, imitation is the most profound compliment you can give anyone. It might last for millions of years.

An acclaimed biologist, Dugatkin has identified and mapped the effects of a powerful, overlooked, and deceptively simple factor in evolutionary history. He shows how the imitation of one individual by another, in any species, is an essential and fundamental natural force that has enabled the growth of animal and human societies. Previously inexplicable animal behaviors become comprehensible in the light of Dugatkin's research: How can one group of monkeys all learn to use a new tool in one generation? There is no time for genetic evolution to achieve this, but the social system enabled by imitation manages it easily. Dugatkin also investigates the way we, and other species, select mates. Why do tiny sailfin molly fish have sex with another species? The somewhat disturbing truth is, simply, to impress the ladies. There can be no purely genetic, standard Darwinian explanation for it. Such fishy sex isn't all in the genes. Humans and animals alike do things because they see others doing them; in this way fashions, traditions, and customs eventually emerge. Indeed, Dugatkin's astonishing point is that the imitation factor has led to the development in animals of education and culture. This fact has changed the course of evolutionary history.

Dugatkin draws on a wide range of his own and others' research into the behavior of fish, birds, whales, and humans to reveal the failure of genetic determination to explain mating behavior and the fundamental process of learning. As we watch people become popular and find ourselves attracted to them, we are doing nothing more than what animals have been doing for eons. Dugatkin follows the course of imitation as it leads to teaching and reveals that the mechanics of "animal education" built the species-wide phenomenon known in our own society as civilization. An original, brilliant, and lucid presentation of a profound new idea in evolutionary science, The Imitation Factor will have an enduring impact on the way we understand life on earth, and ourselves.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The dominant paradigm in evolutionary biology asserts that genes are responsible for virtually all manifestations of animal behavior while the environment plays a small role. In a thoroughly engaging, accessible manner, Dugatkin, professor of biology at the University of Louisville, challenges "that assumption by presenting the case that cultural transmission and gene-culture interactions are serious, underestimated forces in evolutionary biology." He analyzes a broad array of behavioral studies conducted by himself, his students and many other scientists to demonstrate that animals imitate each other regularly, learn new behaviors from this mimesis and even engage in activities that are best called teaching. By presenting behavioral examples of simple and complex animals ranging from guppies to macaques, from blackbirds to humans, he proves that large brains are not a prerequisite for imitation. Even more important, Dugatkin establishes these actions as constituents of culture, which many scientists limit to humans. Dugatkin explains scientific method superbly and conveys the thrill of designing an ingenious experiment. His theories and supporting evidence will inspire even the most skeptical readers to rethink humans' place in the animal kingdom. Anyone interested in the nature/culture debate will learn something new from Dugatkin. (Jan.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Dugatkin (biology, Univ. of Louisville; Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees) turns the troubled concept of cultural Darwinism upside down by asking not how biological evolution affects culture but how culture affects biological evolution--specifically, in how living organisms select their mates. According to his research among species as simple as guppies and as complex as human beings, organisms tend to choose mates by observing the kinds of mates that others choose, then looking for similar characteristics in their own. Individual reproductive success may be enhanced by imitating others, but at a broader level, the impact that this may have upon whole cultures is a fertile area for future study. So much theory in evolutionary biology over the last 20 years has focused on reductionist genetics that this perspective will be welcome to readers of popular science. The text is very readable although somewhat breezy when the author writes in the first person. Like Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine (LJ 4/1/99), this book deals with a new area of scientific research for general readers and is an important addition for public and undergraduate libraries. [Dugatkin's influential research in this area has received major coverage in the media, including the New York Times and Scientific American.--Ed.]--Gregg Sapp, SUNY at Albany Lib. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.