Product Description

For generations, scientists have taught us about the 'fight or flight' response to stress. But is this instinct universal? Renowned psychologist Shelley E. Taylor explains that 'fight or flight' may only be half the story. Humans-particularly females-are hardwired to respond to stress differently. As Taylor deftly points out in this eye-opening work, the 'tend and befriend' response is among the most vital ingredient of human social life. Ranging widely over biology, evolutionary psychology, physiology, and neuroscience, Taylor examines the biological imperative that drives women to seek each other's company, and to tend to the young and the infirm, bestowing great benefits to the group but often at great cost to themselves. This tending process begins virtually at the moment of conception, and literally crafts the biology of offspring through genes that rely on caregiving for their expression. In the tradition of groundbreaking books about the science of human nature such as Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence and Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct, Taylor's book will change forever the way we talk and think about ourselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218851 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 308 pages

Review
“At last, the story of human development as told from a female perspective. It turns out that nurturing and caring are as essential to human nature—and human survival—as selfishness and aggression.”—Ann Crittenden, author of The Price of Motherhood
-- Review

Review

About the Author
Shelley E. Taylor is a distinguished professor of psychology at UCLA and one of the country’s leading scientists. A world-renowned expert on stress and health, her work on the “tend and befriend” theory is considered to be one of the biggest breakthroughs in understanding stress since the 1930s. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Customer Reviews

extremely useful
The book is an amazing compilation of basic up to the minute neuroendocrinology and social psychology.

Combined with work on gender development, e.g., "The Two Sexes: Growing Apart, Coming Together," by Stanford psychologist Eleanor Maccoby, this book provides deep background for two of the most salient issues confronting the reproduction of American culture: collaborative parenting and collaborative conflict resolution.

It is extremely unfortunate that this book is not ranked higher on the Amazon sales chart It's a must read as a nuts and bolts book about the elementary conditions necessary for true "family values."

But it is even more valuable as a subtle debunking of the fictious version of "human nature" espoused by the likes of Steven Pinker. Pinker is at his best describing the power of human language. For solid looks at the ways in which men and women develop emotionally, look at Taylor and Maccoby

Oxytocin?
This authors is a mainstream intellectual whose "Social Pyschology" textbook is probably beyond the 11 th edition, the last one I checked. She is also one of the founders of Health Psychology as a subdiscipline in Psychology and her similarly named text must be in at least the 6th edition, and is considered the Gold Standard in the area!