In this wide-ranging, highly readable book, Dr Leslie Brothers reveals the brain as a social organ - adapted to respond to and process specific social stimuli that are unique to human evolution. Findings from neuroscience, cognitive science, psychiatry, neuropsychology, anthropology, palaeontology, and sociology together present a convincing argument: that it is not possible to understand the products of human evolution - whether language, consciousness, or emotion - in the absence of a social context.