John Pugsley is an electrical engineer who has not only practised his profession in many parts of the world but who has also taught his subject. While writing his M. Ed. thesis he became interested in the problem of anti-social behaviours and this book is the outcome of his later research. It is intended to be a wide-ranging overview of the current knowledge of our biological and cultural evolutions and of how they have shaped our contemporary social behaviours, personal and international.

His basic thesis is that the human race has inherited, deep-seated behaviour patterns which in the past were essential for its survival but which today are all too often counter-productive. Behaviours which once contributed to the survival and spread of nomadic, hunter-gatherer tribes are frequently those which cause social problems in agriculture-based settlements. As these expanded to become towns and cities where people of necessity live closely together such ancient behaviour patterns become less and less appropriate.

Pugsley identifies a number of programmed strategies and tactics which he considers to be threats to the survival of the human race if left unchecked. The first is dominance, the striving of individuals, usually males, to become the leader of the tribe, city, or country. Successful hunting, or warfare, depends on good leadership but such power tends to corrupt. The second is aggression, a most effective strategy during evolution by natural selection, likely to lead to survival and, equally importantly, successful reproduction. Third comes voracity, when food is scarce the less voracious individuals will perish first. The fourth is deceit which takes many forms from mimicry in butterflies to lying by humans. Next is altruism which, at first sight, may seem to lack any benefit to the individual. However, since its practice is largely confined to close kin it usually increases the chances of the altruist’s genes reaching the next generation. Sixth, perhaps surprisingly, is gambling or taking calculated risks such as an animal instinctively estimating the risk of being attacked by a predator at a watering place against the risk of dying of thirst. Or, of course, buying a lottery ticket. Next comes competition in which the winner may, or may not, take all but he or she will certainly get the lion’s share of resources and/or the best mate or mates. Eighth is co-operation, primarily between parents in raising their young, extended in dogs and humans to hunting in packs. An individual excluded from the pack has a low chance of survival. Lastly Pugsley includes superstition which is perhaps more cultural than genetic but can certainly be passed from one generation to the next.

Although there could be some disagreement with the details of Pugsley’s thesis and his choice of no longer appropriate behaviours it is clear that to a considerable extent he is correct. There can be little doubt that as a species we are much better adapted to the environments of our hunter-gatherer ancestors than to modern urban life. The time which has passed since we gave up the nomadic life is, in evolutionary terms, far too short for us to have evolved into people well adapted to living in crowded settled communities. Laws and other social constraints are necessary to prevent the inherited instincts of most of us, for most of the time, becoming anti-social behaviour. These instincts are still with us. Visit a large supermarket and watch the hunter-gatherers at work. This, like the nomadic instinct which creates the tourist industry, is relatively harmless. Others are not. If aggression is uncontrolled it could lead to the end of our civilisation. The social constraints we have at present are only partly successful. Is there a better way to keep our ancient behaviour patterns in check?

Pugsley’s answer is better education, especially in the pre-school years when, he believes, the environment of the developing infant’s brain is more important than its genes. He appears to have overlooked the evidence that this is not so in, for example, studies of identical twins reared apart (Wright, 1997). He also believes that human evolution is over and that future changes must be non-biological. Whilst it is true that, in the developed countries at least, we hold off natural selection with modern medicine and welfare payments it is optimistic to believe that this will always be the case. Indeed it could be argued that the behaviour we now try to keep in check would be essential for the survival of the human race following the collapse of our present civilisation. As Pugsley notes civilisations rise and fall and in the intervening periods and in areas outside their influence our more primitive instincts may well have been the only means of survival.

This is an interesting, thought-provoking book which, I suspect, not everyone will find totally convincing. I think Pugsley has well described the dilemma of a wild animal species living in a restricted environment without, unlike its food animals, being selectively bred. The direct selective breeding of humans is as impossible as it is unacceptable and without it we may have to learn to accept a certain level of anti-social behaviour. There are, of course, things which could be done to reduce such behaviour. Education and “changing attitudes” to anti-social behaviour might help a little although their track record is not encouraging. It would help if we could reduce the number of people trying to live together on a small planet. If, at the same time, we could encourage the more able rather than, as is now only too often the case, the less able to reproduce this would be even better. Such ideas are probably not politically correct but as Pugsley clearly shows today’s received answers are failing to deal with the problem. He may, or may not, have the answer but this book is certainly useful in raising the issue.

*Reference: Wright, Lawrence, Twins, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1997.

John Timson