Studying Human Behavior: How Scientists Investigate Aggression and Sexuality

263 Pages·2013·1.74 MB·English

by  Helen E. Longino

Studying Human Behavior

Studying Human Behavior
How Scientists Investigate
Aggression and Sexuality
Helen E. Longino
Th e University of Chicago Press • Chicago and London
Helen E. Longino is chair and the Clarence Irving Lewis Professor in the
Department of Philosophy at Stanford University. She is the author of
Science as Social Knowledge and Th e Fate of Knowledge.
Th e University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
Th e University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2013 by Th e University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2013.
Printed in the United States of America
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-49287-2 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-49288-9 (paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-92182-2 (e-book)
ISBN-10: 0-226-49287-7 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-226-49288-5 (paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-92182-4 (e-book)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Longino, Helen E.
Studying human behavior : how scientists investigate aggression
and sexuality / Helen E. Longino.
pages ; cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-226-49287-2 (cloth : alkaline paper)
ISBN 0-226-49287-7 (cloth : alkaline paper)
ISBN 978-0-226-49288-9 (paperback : alkaline paper)
ISBN 0-226-49288-5 (paperback : alkaline paper)
ISBN 978-0-226-92182-2 (e-book)
ISBN 0-226-92182-4 (e-book)
1. Human behavior—Research. 2. Behaviorism (Psychology).
3. Aggresssiveness—Research. 4. Sex—Research. I. Title.
BF199.L58 2012
155.2′32—dc23
2012017786
Th is paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
For Valerie

Contents
Acknowledgments • ix
Chapter 1 Introduction • 1
Part 1 Approaches to Understanding Human Behavior
Chapter 2 Quantitative Behavioral Genetics • 21
Chapter 3 Social-Environmental Approaches • 37
Chapter 4 Molecular Behavioral Genetics • 51
Chapter 5 Neurobiological Approaches • 63
Chapter 6 Integrative Approaches • 81
Chapter 7 Scope and Limits of the Approaches • 103
Part 2 Epistemological, Ontological, and Social Analysis
Chapter 8 What We Could Know • 125
Chapter 9 Defi ning Behavior • 151
Chapter 10 Th e Social Life of Behavioral Science • 179
Chapter 11 A Brief Conclusion • 203
Appendix • 211
Works Cited • 213
Name Index • 233
Subject Index • 239

Acknowledgments
Th is book began life as two chapters excised from my 2001 book Th e Fate of
Knowledge. As I completed that manuscript, it became clear that the sciences of
human behavior I was using to exemplify scientifi c plurality required far more
space than I could allot to them. My observations needed to be articulated in
the context of more pressing questions raised by the very aim of understanding
human behavior. At the time those included the conceptualization of behavior
and the complicated relationships among the sciences, culture, and policy. Th ese
matt ers demanded treatment on their own merits.
As I have worked my way through this investigation, I have used a social epis-
temological methodology to understand the diff erences and similarities among
the several approaches, focused on characterizing what the diff erent approaches
are dedicated to explaining, and followed the circulation of assumptions and val-
ues through multiple technical and cultural contexts. Th e sciences of behavior
have recently been advanced by rapid changes in genetics and neurobiology, as
well as in the psychological and social sciences. Nevertheless, the persistence of
certain themes across the decades invites philosophical inquiry into the kind of
knowledge these sciences provide about human behavior and how it matt ers.
•
I’ve been fortunate in being given opportunities to present parts of this work
at national and international conferences and universities. Th e discussions on