Behave: The Biology Of Humans At Our Best And Worst

ALSO BY ROBERT M. SAPOLSKY Monkeyluv and Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals A Primate’s Memoir The Trouble with Testosterone and Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: A Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping Stress, the Aging Brain, and the Mechanisms of Neuron Death PENGUIN PRESS An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 penguin.com Copyright © 2017 by Robert M. Sapolsky Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader. Illustration credits appear here. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Sapolsky, Robert M., author. Title: Behave: the biology of humans at our best and worst / Robert M. Sapolsky. Description: New York: Penguin Press, 2017. Identifiers: LCCN 2016056755 (print) | LCCN 2017006806 (ebook) | ISBN 9781594205071 (hardback) | ISBN 9780735222786 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Neurophysiology. | Neurobiology. | Animal behavior. | BISAC: SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Biology / General. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology. | SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Neuroscience. Classification: LCC QP351 .S27 2017 (print) | LCC QP351 (ebook) | DDC 612.8–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016056755 Interior Illustrations by Tanya Maiboroda here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here Version_1 To Mel Konner, who taught me. To John Newton, who inspired me. To Lisa, who saved me. Contents Also by Robert M. Sapolsky Title Page Copyright Dedication INTRODUCTION One THE BEHAVIOR Two ONE SECOND BEFORE Three SECONDS Four HOURS Five DAYS TO MINUTES BEFORE TO DAYS BEFORE TO MONTHS BEFORE Six ADOLESCENCE; OR, DUDE, WHERE’S MY FRONTAL CORTEX? Seven BACK TO THE CRIB, BACK TO THE WOMB Eight BACK TO WHEN YOU WERE JUST A FERTILIZED EGG Nine CENTURIES Ten THE TO MILLENNIA BEFORE EVOLUTION OF BEHAVIOR Eleven US VERSUS THEM Twelve HIERARCHY, OBEDIENCE, AND RESISTANCE Thirteen MORALITY AND DOING THE RIGHT THING, ONCE YOU’VE FIGURED OUT WHAT THAT IS Fourteen FEELING SOMEONE’S PAIN, UNDERSTANDING SOMEONE’S PAIN, ALLEVIATING SOMEONE’S PAIN Fifteen METAPHORS WE KILL BY Sixteen BIOLOGY, THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, AND (OH, WHY NOT?) FREE WILL Seventeen WAR AND PEACE EPILOGUE Acknowledgments Appendix 1: Neuroscience 101 Appendix 2: The Basics of Endocrinology Appendix 3: Protein Basics Glossary of Abbreviations Notes Illustration Credits Index About the Author Introduction T he fantasy always runs like this: A team of us has fought our way into his secret bunker. Okay, it’s a fantasy, let’s go whole hog. I’ve singlehandedly neutralized his elite guard and have burst into his bunker, my Browning machine gun at the ready. He lunges for his Luger; I knock it out of his hand. He lunges for the cyanide pill he keeps to commit suicide rather than be captured. I knock that out of his hand as well. He snarls in rage, attacks with otherworldly strength. We grapple; I manage to gain the upper hand and pin him down and handcuff him. “Adolf Hitler,” I announ