sociobiology

Anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon arrived in Venezuela's Amazon region in 1964 to study the Yanomamo Indians, one of the last large tribal groups still living in isolation. He expected to find Rousseau's "noble savages" living contentedly in a pristine state of nature. Instead he discovered a very violent society. Men who killed others had the most wives and the most children. The prime reason for this violence was to avenge deaths and abduct women. Chagnon felt their violence gave them an evolutionary advantage, a controversial theory that was not believed by some cultural anthropologists.

Examines the biology of selfishness and altruism in light of Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

Examines the psychology behind the need to occasionally deceive or lie and maintains that it is the fundamental human condition that causes people to weave tales and engage in falsehoods.