Aggression

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

From Darwin down to Freud and Lorenz, scientists have projected a gloomy message that humans are driven, aggressive creatures. The notion that people are basically competitive and combative has gained additional support from sociobiology. This levelheaded book deals a devastating blow to the myth that we are naturally aggressive and to the ``nature versus nurture'' controversy. Its authors (``John Klama'' is a joint pseudonym for biologist John Durant, zoologist Peter Klopfer, psychologist Susan Oyama and other contributors) argue that the nature/nurture dispute wrongly assumes a biological core of fixed traits and a cultural overlay of flexible traits. Aggression, in their opinion, is a catch-all term that lumps together many different behaviors. By showing that aggressiveness is not contained in specific genes, hormones or brain centers, the authors present a much more optimistic view of human behavior than the prevalent belief in a ``beast within,'' which makes war and conflict seem inevitable. (March)