The latest volume in this multidisciplinary series on key topics in evolutionary studies, Evolutionary Perspectives on Death provides an evolutionary analysis of mortality and the consideration of death. Bringing together noted experts from a variety of fields, the books emanate from conferences held at Oakland University, and are dedicated to providing wide ranging and occasionally provocative views of human evolution. The volume on death covers topics from biology, anthropology, psychology, sociology and philosophy, with contributors addressing how evolution informs the process of comprehending, grieving, depicting, celebrating, and accepting death.
Among the topics covered:
- Evolutionary perspectives on the loss of a twin
- Nonhuman primate responses to death
- Death in literature
- Witnessing and representing the death of pets
- The role of human decomposition facilities in shaping American perspectives on death
This insightful volume showcases groundbreaking empirical and theoretical research addressing death and mortality from an evolutionary perspective, demonstrating the intellectual value of an interdisciplinary approach to understanding psychological processes and behavior.
Chapter 6 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.
Table of Content
Preface.- Chapter 1: The Role of Death in Life: Exploring the Interface between Terror Management Theory and Evolutionary Psychology.- Chapter 2: Evolutionary Perspectives on the Loss of a Twin.- Chapter 3: Beyond the Search for Suigiston: How Evolution Offers Oxygen for Suicidology.- Chapter 4: Animacy and Mortality Salience: New Directions for the Adaptive Memory Literature.- Chapter 5: Nonhuman Primate Responses to Death.- Chapter 6: Did Human Reality Denial Breach the Evolutionary Psychological Barrier of Mortality Salience? A Theory That Can Explain Many Unusual Features of Human Origins.- Chapter 7: Death in Literature.- Chapter 8: Last Moments: Witnessing and Representing the Death of Pets.- Chapter 9: The Evolution of American Perspectives Concerning Treatment of the Dead and the Role of Human Decomposition Facilities.
About the author
Todd K. Shackelford received his Ph.D. in evolutionary psychology in 1997 from the University of Texas–Austin. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, where he is Co-Director of the Evolutionary Psychology Lab. He led the founding of new Ph.D. and M.S. programs, which launched in 2012. Shackelford has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and has edited 10 volumes, and his work has been cited over 7, 000 times. Much of Shackelford’s research addresses sexual conflict between men and women, with a special focus on testing hypotheses derived from sperm competition theory. Since 2006, Shackelford has served as editor of Evolutionary Psychology.Virgil Zeigler-Hill received his Ph.D. in social-personality psychology in 2004 from the University of Oklahoma. He is a member of the faculty in the Department of Psychology at Oakland University. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and books. His primary research interests are in four interrelated areas: self-esteem, narcissism, cognitive representations of the self, and interpersonal relationships.
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