Of Chimps and Man

Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 2001, Vol 46(1), 39–43. Reviews the book “The Dark Side of Man: Tracing the Origins of Male Violence” by Michael P. Ghiglieri (see record 2000-07074-000). This book presents an overwhelming case that the capacity for brutal violence is deep in the psyche of human males. Michael Ghiglieri is uniquely qualified to write this book. He was a platoon sergeant in the Vietnam War, studied the behavior of wild chimpanzees and gorillas, and worked as a wilderness tour guide in Africa. In all these pursuits, he witnessed human and other primate male aggression up close. He reviews how natural selection exerted differing pressures on males and females, giving the impression that Ghiglieri believes the two sexes are more different from one another than each is from their same-sex closest relatives, chimpanzees. Men, he contends, are born with a proclivity to lethal violence, whereas women are not. Ghiglieri summarizes differences between male and female brains so that each experiences rage and jealousy very differently. I highly recommend this book. Ghiglieri's analysis of male violence goes further than another book about male violence with an evolutionary perspective (Wrangham & Peterson, 1996). However, readers looking for more optimistic views and solutions might also wish to look elsewhere (Ridley, 1997; Wright, 1994). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)