ABSTRACT
This chapter examines various approaches to the study of human nature. For Jung, humans inherit a nervous system designed by evolution to function according to the evolutionary strategies of the species. The chapter argues that the agonic and hedonic modes are expressions of particular subsystems of defence and safety. The defence system is essentially concerned with the avoidance of all forms of threat, injury and attack. Anxiety and other forms of psychopathology relate not just to the degree of threat in the environment but also to the degree of safety. The chapter also focuses on the implications of these two systems for the structure of social attention. Social attention holding potential (SAHP) relates to later adaptations whereby prestige is acquired via the control of social attention. PSALICs provide for the expression of social roles. It may also be that various cognitions are organised through the activation of underlying PSALICs.
