Human ethology /

Eibl-Eibesfeldt has, over the years, been the key figure to apply the approach of classic ethology to the study of human behavior. This volume represents a capstone summary of his research and views of human behavior. Although the author is sensitive to modern criticisms of the ethological concept of instinct and is aware of the newer theoretical and empirical work in sociobiology, the book is not strongly influenced by this work. As a consequence the volume appears a bit dated in its approach. The ethological approaches to the study of human behavior are largely derived from the first wave of evolutionary thinking regarding human behavior. Perhaps because many of the early ethologists started out studying the behavior of relatively simple animals, they came to emphasize the view that much of behavior was instinctive and rather rigidly controlled by genes. There will be readers who reject this emphasis. Although the theoretical position of the author is controversial, his book has merit because of the extensive cross-cultural data presented. The best of Eibl-Eibesfeldt's work has been on nonverbal communication; that research is presented in rich detail and by itself makes the book valuable. Upper-division and graduate collections. -D. A. Smith, Oberlin College