Steroid hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, can influence behaviour and cognition by their actions on the structure and function of the central nervous system. As well as activating adult behaviour (Almond et al. 2006), steroid hormones can organise the development of the brain and behaviour during sensitive periods of development (Brown & Dixson 1999). My current research asks whether adolescence is a peroid of life during which exposure to steroid hormones influences the development of sex differences in brain and behaviour. In particular, I’m interested in how exploratory behaviour and response to novelty differ between the sexes (Brown & Nemes, 2008) and how novelty-seeking behaviour develops during adolescence. This research has potential implications for our understanding of sex differences in anxiety and sensation-seeking behaviour in human beings.
My research addresses the following questions about behavioural development in primates: i) do male and female infants differ in their behaviour (Brown & Dixson 2000), ii) do mothers invest differently in sons and daughters (Brown 2001), iii) do birth sex ratios vary adaptively (Brown & Silk 2002; Silk et al. 2005; Silk & Brown 2008), and iv) do youngsters learn what, where and how to eat through social interactions (Brown et al. 2004; Rapaport & Brown, 2008)? I’m also interested in whether there is evidence for ‘teaching’ in animals (e.g. Hoppitt et al. 2008).
In collaboration with Prof. Kevin Laland (University of St Andrews), I have co-authored a book, Sense and Nonsense, that critically evaluates evolutionary perspectives on human behaviour, including sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, human behavioural ecology and cultural evolution. I’m interested in the evolution of sex differences in mating strategies in human beings and the concept of human universals. My current research asks whether a comparative perspective can enhance our understanding of human behaviour and the evolution of human life histories (e.g. Laland & Brown 2008).
Publication date: 25 April 2002
Price: £19.95 (Hardback - 150 pages)
ISBN: 019850884
Order this book from OUP or read a pdf sample.
Evolutionary theory is one of the most wide-ranging and inspiring of scientific ideas. It offers a battery of methods that can be used to help us understand human behaviour. Nevertheless, the legitimacy of this exercise is at the centre of a heated controversy that has raged for over a century. Many evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and psychologists have taken these evolutionary principles and tried using them to explain a wide range of human characteristics, such as homicide, religion and sex differences in behaviour. Others, however, are sceptical of these interpretations. Moreover, researchers disagree as to the best ways to use evolution to explore humanity, and a number of schools have emerged.
Sense and Nonsense provides an introduction to the ideas, methods, and findings of five such schools, namely, sociobiology, human behavioural ecology, evolutionary psychology, memetics, and gene-culture co-evolution. Carefully guiding the reader through the mire of confusing terminology, claim and counter-claim, and polemical statements, Laland and Brown provide a balanced, rigorous analysis that scrutinizes both the evolutionary arguments and the allegations of the critics. This is a book that will be make fascinating reading for popular science readers, undergraduate and postgraduate students (for example, in psychology, anthropology and zoology), and to experts on one approach who would like to know more about the other perspectives. Having read this book the reader will feel better placed to assess the legitimacy of claims made about human behaviour under the name of evolution, and to make judgements as to what is sense and what is nonsense.
'This is a superb book'. Johan Bolhuis, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
'Kevin Laland and Gillian Brown are superb pilots for these treacherous waters. They have provided us with a lucid, sane and very intelligent alternative to the embattled rhetoric of recent debates. It is an altogether excellent book.' Patrick Bateson
'This is a remarkable book'. Paul Harvey, Times Higher Education Supplement
'Lucid and balanced, Sense and Nonsense will hopefully reach a broad audience.' Sarah Hrdy
'A 'must read' for my undergraduate courses for the foreseeable future, Laland and Brown have written an up to date, blessedly balanced and refreshingly critical review of the application of evolutionary theory to the human sciences, based upon the single, and surely correct, view that human behaviour is multiply determined.' Henry Plotkin
'I recommend that everone with some influence or interest in popular culture read this book'. Mark Pagel, New Scientist
'A welcome and incisive corrective to the disarray within evolutionary social theory'. Herbert Gintis, Human Nature Review