ABSTRACT
Analysis of the behavior of infrahuman species has once more intensified but for a very different reason than that produced by instrumental conditioning: the rebirth of interest in Darwinian theory. Evolutionary behavioral science, almost universally ignored since the advent of the environmental determinists, Franz Boas and John Watson, was "discovered" in the 1960s (Ghiselin, 1969; Hamilton, 1964; Williams, 1966), became exciting in the 1970s (Alexander, 1974, 1979; Daly & Wilson, 1978/1983; Ghiselin, 1974; Symons, 1979; Wilson, 1975, 1978) and now promises to become a basic constituent of most responsible analyses of human behavior (Crawford, Smith, & Krebs, 1987; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Hausfater & Hrdy, 1984). The fundamental thesis: Homo sapiens sapiens is a product of evolution. It follows that behavior evolved and if we are to understand human behavior we must place it in evolutionary perspective. As with any stimulating "new" concept, evolutionary behavioral science reveals fascinating frontiers-and, inevitably, produces more than its share of tragicomics. In what follows I hope to avoid becoming one of the latter!
