Fate Hollow Academy: Term 2

"Why do we do the things we do? Over a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy. And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. A behavior occurs--whether an example of humans at our best, worst, or somewhere in between. What went on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happened? Then Sapolsky pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell caused the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones acted hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli that triggered the nervous system? By now he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened. Sapolsky keeps going: How was that behavior influenced by structural changes in the nervous system over the preceding months, by that person's adolescence, childhood, fetal life, and then back to his or her genetic makeup? Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than one individual. How did culture shape that individual's group, what ecological factors millennia old formed that culture? And on and on, back to evolutionary factors millions of years old. The result is one of the most dazzling tours d'horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced. Perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do ... for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right"-- Read more... Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 3 Contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 9 THE APPROACH IN THIS BOOK......Page 13 OUR LIVES AS ANIMALS AND OUR HUMAN VERSATILITY AT BEING AGGRESSIVE......Page 19 1. The Behavior......Page 22 2. One Second Before......Page 27 THREE METAPHORICAL (BUT NOT LITERAL) LAYERS......Page 29 THE LIMBIC SYSTEM......Page 31 The Autonomic Nervous System and the Ancient Core Regions of the Brain......Page 32 The Interface Between the Limbic System and the Cortex......Page 34 A First Pass at the Amygdala and Aggression......Page 38 A Whole Other Domain of Amygdaloid Function to the Center Stage......Page 40 The Amygdala as Part of Networks in the Brain......Page 45 THE FRONTAL CORTEX......Page 50 The Subregions of the Frontal Cortex......Page 51 The Frontal Cortex and Cognition......Page 52 Frontal Metabolism and an Implicit Vulnerability......Page 53 The Frontal Cortex and Social Behavior......Page 55 The Obligatory Declaration of the Falseness of the Dichotomy Between Cognition and Emotion......Page 58 The Frontal Cortex and Its Relationship with the Limbic System......Page 61 Nuclei, Inputs, and Outputs......Page 68 Reward......Page 69 The Anticipation of Reward......Page 73 Pursuit......Page 76 A Final Small Topic: Serotonin......Page 79 CONCLUSIONS......Page 81 So What Does All of This Tell Us?......Page 83 3. Seconds to Minutes Before......Page 85 UNIVERSAL RULES VERSUS KNOBBY KNEES......Page 86 Sensory Triggers of Behavior in Some Other Species......Page 87 Under the Radar: Subliminal and Unconscious Cuing......Page 88 Interoceptive Information......Page 93 Unconscious Language Effects......Page 95 Even Subtler Types of Unconscious Cuing......Page 96 A Wonderfully Complicating Piece of the Story......Page 99 CONCLUSIONS......Page 101 4. Hours to Days Before......Page 102 Correlation and Causality......Page 103 Subtleties of Testosterone Effects......Page 105 Contingent Testosterone Effects......Page 107 A Key Synthesis: The Challenge Hypothesis......Page 108 Basics......Page 111 Neurobiologists Take Notice......Page 112 Prosociality Versus Sociality......Page 116 Contingent Effects of Oxytocin and Vasopressin......Page 117 And the Dark Side of These Neuropeptides......Page 118 Maternal Aggression......Page 120 Bare-Knuckled Female Aggression......Page 121 Perimenstrual Aggression and Irritability......Page 123 The Basic Dichotomy of the Acute and the Chronic Stress Response......Page 127 A Brief Digression: Stress That We Love......Page 129 Sustained Stress and the Neurobiology of Fear......Page 130 Sustained Stress, Executive Function, and Judgment......Page 132 Sustained Stress and Pro- and Antisociality......Page 133 SOME IMPORTANT DEBUNKING: ALCOHOL......Page 136 SUMMARY AND SOME CONCLUSIONS......Page 137 5. Days to Months Before......Page 139 NONLINEAR EXCITATION......Page 140 “AHA” VERSUS ACTUALLY REMEMBERING......Page 142 Rescued from the Trash......Page 144 Axonal Plasticity......Page 146 DIGGING DEEPER IN THE ASH HEAP OF HISTORY......Page 149 SOME OTHER DOMAINS OF NEUROPLASTICITY......Page 152 SOME CONCLUSIONS......Page 154 6. Adolescence; or, Dude, Where’s My Frontal Cortex?......Page 156 THE REALITY OF ADOLESCENCE......Page 158 THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF FRONTAL CORTICAL MATURATION......Page 159 Frontal Cortical Changes in Cognition in Adolescence......Page 161 Frontal Cortical Changes in Emotional Regulation......Page 162 ADOLESCENT RISK TAKING......Page 163 PEERS, SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE, AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION......Page 167 EMPATHY, SYMPATHY, AND MORAL REASONING......Page 170 ADOLESCENT VIOLENCE......Page 173 A FINAL THOUGHT: WHY CAN’T THE FRONTAL CORTEX JUST ACT ITS AGE?......Page 175 7. Back to the Crib, Back to the Womb......Page 177 COMPLEXIFICATION......Page 178 A BRIEF TOUR OF BRAIN DEVELOPMENT......Page 179 STAGES......Page 180 Feeling Someone Else’s Pain......Page 184 Moral Development......Page 186 Level 1: Should I Eat the Cookie? Preconventional Reasoning......Page 187 Level 3: Should I Eat the Cookie? Postconventional Reasoning......Page 188 Marshmallows......Page 190 CONSEQUENCES......Page 193 LET’S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING: THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTHERS......Page 194 ANY KIND OF MOTHER IN A STORM......Page 198 DIFFERENT ROUTES TO THE SAME PLACE......Page 200 THE BIOLOGICAL PROFILE......Page 201 Observing Violence......Page 204 Bullying......Page 205 A KEY QUESTION......Page 207 A SLEDGEHAMMER......Page 208 CULTURE, WITH BOTH A BIG AND A LITTLE......Page 210 Collectivist Versus Individualist Cultures......Page 213 Class Differences......Page 215 The Cat in the Hat in the Womb......Page 218 BOY AND GIRL BRAINS, WHATEVER THAT MIGHT MEAN......Page 220 And Us......Page 224 Expanding the Scope of “Environment”......Page 227 CONCLUSIONS......Page 230 8. Back to When You Were Just a Fertilized Egg......Page 232 Do Genes Know What They Are Doing? The Triumph of the Environment......Page 235 Epigenetics......Page 238 The Modular Construction of Genes: Exons and Introns......Page 239 Transposable Genetic Elements, the Stability of the Genome, and Neurogenesis......Page 240 Chance......Page 241 Some Key Points, Completing This Part of the Chapter......Page 242 Twins, Adoptees, and Adopted Twins......Page 243 The Debates About Twin and Adoption Studies......Page 246 The Fragile Nature of Heritability Estimates......Page 249 The Difference Between a Trait Being Inherited and Having a High Degree of......Page 250 The Reliability of Heritability Measures......Page 251 Gene/Environment Interactions......Page 253 Studying Candidate Genes......Page 258 The Serotonin System......Page 259 The Dopamine System......Page 263 The Neuropeptides Oxytocin and Vasopressin......Page 266 Genes Related to Steroid Hormones......Page 267 Fishing Expeditions, Instead of Looking Where the Light Is......Page 268 CONCLUSIONS......Page 272 9. Centuries to Millennia Before......Page 273 DEFINITIONS, SIMILARITIES, AND DIFFERENCES......Page 277 COLLECTIVIST VERSUS INDIVIDUALIST CULTURES......Page 282 PASTORALISTS AND SOUTHERNERS......Page 291 Violence Turned Inward......Page 297 STRATIFIED VERSUS EGALITARIAN CULTURES......Page 301 POPULATION SIZE, POPULATION DENSITY, POPULATION HETEROGENEITY......Page 306 THE RESIDUES OF CULTURAL CRISES......Page 311 OH, WHY NOT: RELIGION......Page 314 Fractured Bones......Page 316 Prehistorians in the Flesh......Page 320 War and Hunter-Gatherers, Past and Present......Page 326 SOME CONCLUSIONS......Page 338 10. The Evolution of Behavior......Page 340 EVOLUTION 101......Page 341 BEHAVIOR CAN BE SHAPED BY EVOLUTION......Page 344 THE DEMISE OF GROUP SELECTION......Page 345 INDIVIDUAL SELECTION......Page 347 KIN SELECTION......Page 350 Recognizing Relatives?......Page 353 RECIPROCAL ALTRUISM......Page 356 Gigantic Question #1: What Strategy for Cooperating Is Optimal?......Page 358 Gigantic Question #2: How Can Cooperation Ever Start?......Page 365 Pair-Bonding Versus Tournament Species......Page 367 Parent-Offspring Conflict......Page 370 Intersexual Genetic Conflict......Page 371 Genotype Versus Phenotype, and the Most Meaningful Level of Selection......Page 373 The Resurrection of Group Selection......Page 375 Promiscuous Tournament or Monogamous Pair-Bonded?......Page 378 Individual Selection......Page 379 Kin Selection......Page 380 Reciprocal Altruism and Neo–Group Selectionism......Page 384 THE USUAL: WHERE ARE THE GENES?......Page 386 Punctuated Equilibrium......Page 387 A FINAL CHALLENGE LACED WITH POLITICS: IS EVERYTHING ADAPTIVE?......Page 395 11. Us Versus Them......Page 401 THE STRENGTH OF US/THEM......Page 402 US......Page 407 THOSE THEMS......Page 412 Thoughts Versus Feelings About Them......Page 413 Individual Intergroup Interactions Versus Group Intergroup Interactions......Page 417 Multiple Us-es......Page 419 Cold and/or Incompetent......Page 424 Some of My Best Friends......Page 428 The Subterranean Forces of Cuing and Priming......Page 431 Changing the Rank Ordering of Us/Them Categories......Page 432 Hierarchy......Page 433 CONCLUSIONS......Page 436 12. Hierarchy, Obedience, and Resistance......Page 438 THE NATURE AND VARIETIES OF HIERARCHIES......Page 439 RANK AND HIERARCHY IN HUMANS......Page 443 Internal Standards......Page 444 Detecting Rank......Page 445 Your Brain and Your Own Status......Page 446 Your Body and Your Own Status......Page 447 And Us......Page 452 A Really Odd Thing That We Do Now and Then......Page 455 OH, WHY NOT TAKE THIS ONE ON? POLITICS AND POLITICAL ORIENTATIONS......Page 458 Implicit Factors Underlying Political Orientation......Page 459 And of Course, Some Underlying Biology......Page 465 OBEDIENCE AND CONFORMITY, DISOBEDIENCE AND NONCONFORMITY......Page 469 Roots......Page 470 Neural Bases......Page 471 Asch, Milgram, and Zimbardo......Page 473 Situational Forces and What Lurks in All of Us......Page 476 Some Different Takes......Page 477 Modulators of the Pressures to Conform and Obey......Page 481 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS......Page 487 13. Morality and Doing the Right Thing, Once You’ve Figured Out What That Is......Page 490 THE PRIMACY OF REASONING IN MORAL DECISION MAKING......Page 492 YEAH, SURE IT IS: SOCIAL INTUITIONISM......Page 494 AGAIN WITH BABIES AND ANIMALS......Page 497 MR. SPOCK AND JOSEPH STALIN......Page 501 CONTEXT......Page 502 “But This Circumstance Is Different”......Page 506 Cultural Context......Page 507 Which Dead White Male Was Right?......Page 517 Slow and Fast: The Separate Problems of “Me Versus Us” and “Us Versus Them”......Page 521 Veracity and Mendacity......Page 524 14. Feeling Someone’s Pain, Understanding Someone’s Pain, Alleviating Someone’s Pain......Page 532 “FOR” VERSUS “AS IF” AND OTHER DISTINCTIONS......Page 533 EMOTIONALLY CONTAGIOUS, COMPASSIONATE ANIMALS......Page 535 EMOTIONALLY CONTAGIOUS, COMPASSIONATE CHILDREN......Page 539 The Affective Side of Things......Page 541 The Cognitive Side of Things......Page 544 A MYTHIC LEAP FORWARD......Page 549 Doing Something......Page 555 Doing Something Effectively......Page 558 Are There Ever Any Bloody Altruists?......Page 559 CONCLUSIONS......Page 563 EXAMPLE 1......Page 565 EXAMPLE 2......Page 567 EXAMPLES 3, 4, AND 5......Page 568 FEELING SOMEONE ELSE’S PAIN......Page 573 DISGUST AND PURITY......Page 575 REAL VERSUS METAPHORICAL SENSATION......Page 580 DUCT TAPE......Page 583 THE METAPHORICAL DARK SIDE......Page 585 A GLIMMER......Page 590 DON’T FORGET TO CHECK THEIR TEAR DUCTS......Page 595 THREE PERSPECTIVES......Page 600 DRAWING LINES IN THE SAND......Page 602 Age, Maturity of Groups, Maturity of Individuals......Page 605 The Nature and Magnitude of Brain Damage......Page 606 The Time Course of Decision Making......Page 607 Causation and Compulsion......Page 608 Starting a Behavior Versus Halting It......Page 609 “You Must Be So Smart” Versus “You Must Have Worked So Hard”......Page 610 BUT DOES ANYTHING USEFUL ACTUALLY COME OF THIS?......Page 614 Explaining Lots and Predicting Little......Page 616 HOW THEY WILL VIEW US......Page 622 POSTSCRIPT: NOW FOR THE HARD PART......Page 628 17. War and Peace......Page 629 SOMEWHAT BETTER ANGELS......Page 630 Why Were People So Awful Then?......Page 631 Why Have People Gotten Less Awful?......Page 632 Have People Really Gotten Less Awful?......Page 633 SOME TRADITIONAL ROUTES......Page 635 Religion......Page 636 Contact......Page 641 Burning and Unburning Bridges......Page 644 Cooperation......Page 648 Punishment......Page 649 Reconciliation, and Things That Are Not Synonymous with It......Page 652 Recognizing Our Irrationalities......Page 657 Our Incompetence at and Aversion to Killing......Page 658 Rousseau with a Tail......Page 662 One Person......Page 666 Finally—the Potential for Collective Power......Page 677 Epilogue......Page 686 Two Last Thoughts......Page 689 Acknowledgments......Page 691 Appendix 1: Neuroscience 101......Page 694 ONE NEURON AT A TIME......Page 695 The Defeat of the Synctitium-ites......Page 703 Neurotransmitters......Page 705 Types of Neurotransmitters......Page 707 Neuropharmacology......Page 709 Neuromodulation......Page 710 Sharpening a Signal over Time and Space......Page 711 Two Different Types of Pain......Page 714 Which Guy Is It?......Page 716 One More Round of Scaling Up......Page 720 Appendix 2: The Basics of Endocrinology......Page 724 DNA AS THE BLUEPRINT FOR CONSTRUCTING PROTEINS......Page 729 MUTATIONS AND POLYMORPHISMS......Page 731 DNA AS THE BLUEPRINT FOR CONSTRUCTING PROTEINS......Page 728 MUTATIONS AND POLYMORPHISMS......Page 730 Glossary of Abbreviations......Page 734 Abbreviations in the Notes......Page 736 Notes......Page 737 Illustration Credits......Page 822 Index......Page 824 About the Author......Page 860 "It's no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read."? David P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal From the celebrated neurobiologist and primatologist, a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior, both good and bad, and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do? Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy. And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. A behavior occurs?whether an example of humans at our best, worst, or somewhere in between. What went on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happened? Then Sapolsky pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell caused the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones acted hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli that triggered the nervous system? By now he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened. Sapolsky keeps going: How was that behavior influenced by structural changes in the nervous system over the preceding months, by that person's adolescence, childhood, fetal life, and then back to his or her genetic makeup? Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than one individual. How did culture shape that individual's group, what ecological factors millennia old formed that culture? And on and on, back to evolutionary factors millions of years old. The result is one of the most dazzling tours d'horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do ... for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right New York Times bestseller • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • One of the Washington Post 's 10 Best Books of the Year “It’s no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” —David P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal "It has my vote for science book of the year.” —Parul Sehgal, The New York Times "Immensely readable, often hilarious...Hands-down one of the best books I’ve read in years. I loved it." —Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post From the bestselling author of A Primate's Memoir and the forthcoming Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will comes a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do? Behave is one of the most dazzling tours d’horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted. Moving across a range of disciplines, Sapolsky—a neuroscientist and primatologist—uncovers the hidden story of our actions. Undertaking some of our thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, and war and peace, Behave is a towering achievement—a majestic synthesis of cutting-edge research and a heroic exploration of why we ultimately do the things we do . . . for good and for ill.