Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior

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A leading evolutionary psychologist probes the hidden instincts behind our working, shopping, and spending Evolutionary psychology-the compelling science of human nature-has clarified the prehistoric origins of human behavior and influenced many fields ranging from economics to personal relationships. In Spent Geoffrey Miller applies this revolutionary science's principles to a new domain: the sensual wonderland of marketing and status seeking that we call American consumer culture. Starting with the basic notion that the goods and services we buy unconsciously advertise our biological potential as mates and friends, Miller examines the hidden factors that dictate our choices in everything from lipstick to cars, from the magazines we read to the music we listen to. With humor and insight, Miller analyzes an array of product choices and deciphers what our decisions say about ourselves, giving us access to a new way of understanding-and improving-our behaviors. Like Freakonomics or The Tipping Point, Spent is a bold and revelatory book that illuminates the unseen logic behind the chaos of consumerism and suggests new ways we can become happier consumers and more responsible citizens.

Author(s): Geoffrey Miller
Publisher: Viking Adult
Year: 2009

Language: English
Pages: 384

Darwin Goes to the Mall......Page 5
The Genius of Marketing......Page 14
Why Marketing Is Central to Culture......Page 23
This Is Your Brain on Money......Page 31
The Fundamental Consumerist Delusion......Page 40
Flaunting Fitness......Page 50
Conspicuous Waste, Precision,and Reputation......Page 61
Self-Branding Bodies,Self-Marketing Minds......Page 69
The Central Six......Page 77
Traits That Consumers Flauntand Marketers Ignore......Page 90
General lntelligence......Page 98
Openness......Page 108
Conscientiousness......Page 117
Agreeableness......Page 125
The Centrifugal Soul......Page 132
The Will to Display......Page 143
Legalizing Freedom......Page 159
Exercises for the Reader......Page 170
Further Reading and Viewing......Page 173
Index......Page 186