Pyschological anthropology is a vital area of contemporary social science, and one of the field's most important and innovative thinkers is Melford E. Spiro. This volume brings together sixteen essays that review Spiro's theoretical insights and extend them into new areas. The essays center on several general problems: In what ways is it meaningful to speak of a social act as having "functions"? What elements and processes of human personality are universal, and why? What is the relationship between religion and personality? Why? What are the pyschological underpinnings of social manipulation?

David K. Jordan and Marc J. Swartz both hold Professor Emeritus rank at the University of California-San Diego.

"Superb. . . . An outstanding contribution to the field of psychological anthropology in particular and anthropology in general." -- Ralph Bolton, Pomona College

"The volume can be read with profit by all serious students of culture." -- American Anthropologist

"Unabashedly aims at using ethnographic material to illuminate general problems about human nature." -- American Ethnologist