Killer Instinct - The Popular Science of Human Nature in Twentieth-Century America

In the 1960s biologists and social scientists engaged in a public debate about human nature. The question-whether humans are innately aggressive or cooperative-eventually receded, but the oppositional nature-nurture binary created in the course of the debate left a lasting legacy that would underpin subsequent discussions of human behavior.

About the author

Nadine Weidman is Lecturer on the History of Science at Harvard University and teaches in the Psychology Department at Boston College. She is the author of Constructing Scientific Psychology, coauthor of Race, Racism, and Science: Social Impact and Interaction, and editor of the journal History of Psychology.

Summary

In the 1960s biologists and social scientists engaged in a public debate about human nature. The question—whether humans are innately aggressive or cooperative—eventually receded, but the oppositional nature–nurture binary created in the course of the debate left a lasting legacy that would underpin subsequent discussions of human behavior.

Product details

• Authors: Nadine Weidman, Weidman Nadine
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.2021
• EAN: 9780674983472
• ISBN: 978-0-674-98347-2
• No. of pages: 368
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Popular Culture, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture, Evolution, popular science, SCIENCE / History, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Biology, PSYCHOLOGY / History, PSYCHOLOGY / Evolutionary Psychology, History of Science, Biology, life sciences, Social and cultural history, Psychological theory, systems, schools and viewpoints, Psychological theory & schools of thought, Evolution / Evolutionary biology