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Biophobia breeds unparsimonious exceptionalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

Steven J. C. Gaulin
Steven J. C. Gaulin
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210. gaulin@anth.ucsb.edu
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Abstract

With respect to aggressiveness it is not enough to say that humans are “like other mammals.” We resemble only those species where males have higher maximum reproductive rates than females. In such species males evolve a set of hormonally mediated competitive traits via sexual selection. Because humans match the predictions of this general evolutionary model, attempts to (re)explain men's aggressiveness in sociological terms are superfluous and misleading.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 32 , Issue 3-4 , August 2009 , pp. 279 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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