Hi everybody this is God's had in my 2007 book the evolutionary basis of consumption

shown right here I demonstrate how one can use evolutionary-based thinking and understanding consumer

behavior. It's an academic book so quite technical and then later in 2011 I wrote the consuming instinct which was a book

that was meant for the general masses it's a trade book but I think for those of

you who are interested in the intersection of evolutionary biology, evolution

psychology and consumer behavior slash the behavioral sciences, I think you'd enjoy both books.

In any case, in the 2007 book, at one point I talk about the Machiavellianism trait and I discuss some

evolutionary explorations of that trait.

So what I thought I would do is I would first read you from my book,

a passage on Machiavellianism.

And of course, many of you know that Machiavellianism

comes from the political philosopher Machiavelli,

who wrote a book many centuries ago, talking about how, for example, a politician doesn't have to truly be honest, but what he has to do is convey cues of honesty to the electorate, right? So in a sense it's often been, the term is used now colloquially for someone who is manipulative although as I explained in my 2007 book

there are clear evolutionary reasons for why Machiavellianism evolved So let me just read for you here. This is from page 52 and 53.

So over the past 25 years a wide range of evolution is stemming from various research streams have investigated Machiavellianism

while providing plausible ultimate-based accounts of the existence of this trait.

Why have humans evolved such large and complex brains capable of manipulative intent?

One theory suggests that the evolution of an ever more complex human mind was an adaptive

solution to the increasing complexity of the social environment faced by our

ancestors. See Byrne and Witton 1988 and relevant references therein.

One finding in support of the latter hypothesis is the fact that in comparing across primates

there exists a positive correlation between social complexity and brain size.

...