Sociobiology and Human Development

Wilson contended that sociobiology would be the “master” synthetic discipline, a field enveloping all of behavioral and social science. Our assessment draws on and extends prior discussions of sociobiological ideas, particularly in our concern with issues relevant to human development and in our provision of an alternative to sociobio–logical views of the role of biology in human development, one based on a developmental contextual perspective regarding human development. A parallel arises between the views of sociobiologists and the ideas of Konrad Lorenz. Lorenz saw human aggression as both inevitable and inherent in the human genome—to the point of providing for innate “militant enthusiasm.” Perhaps he means that sociobiology is not a “theory” but only a “perspective,” or merely a rather general framework within which to study systematically the biological and, therefore, ultimately, the genetic basis of all social behavior.