The Moral Molecule The Source of Love and Prosperity

by Zak, Paul J.

• ISBN13: 9780525952817
• ISBN10: 0525952810
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-10
• Publisher: E P Dutton

Summary

A Revolution in the Science of Good and Evil Why do some people give freely while others are cold hearted? Why do some people cheat and steal while others you can trust with your life? Why are some husbands more faithful than others--and why do women tend to be more generous than men? Could they key to moral behavior lie with a single molecule? From the bucolic English countryside to the highland of Papua New Guinea, from labs in Switzerland to his campus in Souther California, Dr. Paul Zak recounts his extraordinary stories and sets out, for the first time, his revolutionary theory of moral behavior. Accessible and electrifying, The Moral Moleculeis nothing less than the origins of our most human qualities-empathy, happiness, the kindness of strangers-revealed.

Author Biography

PAUL J. ZAK, Ph.D., is professor of economic psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University. As the founding director of Claremont's Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, he is at the vanguard of neuroeconomics, a new discipline that integrates neuroscience and economics. He has a popular Pyschology Today blog called The Moral Molecule. He makes numerous media appearances, and his research has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Scientific American, Fast Company, and many others.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Vampire Wedding	p. ix
The Trust Game: From Short Cons to the Wealth of Nations	p. 1
Lobsters in Love: The Evolution of Trust	p. 28
Feeling Oxytocin: The Circuit That Brings Us HOME	p. 51
Bad Boys: The Complications of Gender	p. 76
The Disconnected: Victims of Abuse, Bad Genes, and Bad Ideas	p. 102
Where Sex Touches Religion: Stepping Outside the Self	p. 130
Moral Markets: Liquid Trust and Why Greed Isn't Good	p. 158
A Long and Happy Life: Mimes Creating Bottom-up Democracy	p. 184
Notes	p. 213
Acknowledgments	p. 221
Index	p. 225
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