On Aggression

konrad lorenz

Konrad Lorenz was the author of some of the most popular books ever published about animals, including the best-selling Man Meets Dog and King Solomon's Ring . On Aggression is one of his finest works, as well as the most controversial. Through an insightful and characteristically entertaining survey of animal behaviour, the Nobel Prize winner tracks the evolution of aggression throughout the animal world. He also raises some startling questions when he applies his observations of animal psychology to humankind. His conclusions caused an unprecedented controversy, culminating in a statement adopted by UNESCO in 1989 which appeared to condemn his work. Whether or not Lorenz actually claimed aggression is hard-wired into the human psyche, and that war is an inevitable result, is something readers can decide upon for themselves. However you react, there can be no doubting that in today's violent world this powerful work remains of paramount importance.

Genres psychologysciencenonfictionbiologyphilosophyevolutionanimalsanthropologynaturesociology

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1963

This edition

Format: 306 pages, Paperback
Published: May 9, 2002 by Routledge
ISBN: 9780415283205
ASIN: 0415283205
Language: English

About the author

konrad lorenz

Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch. He is often regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, developing an approach that began with an earlier generation, including his teacher Oskar Heinroth.
Lorenz studied instinctive behavior in animals, especially in greylag geese and jackdaws. Working with geese, he investigated the principle of imprinting, the process by which some nidifugous birds (i.e. birds that leave their nest early) bond instinctively with the first moving object that they see within the first hours of hatching. Although Lorenz did not discover the topic, he became widely known for his descriptions of imprinting as an instinctive bond. In 1936 he met Dutch biologist Nikolaas Tinbergen, and the two collaborated in developing ethology as a separate sub-discipline of biology. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Lorenz as the 65th most cited scholar of the 20th century in the technical psychology journals, introductory psychology textbooks, and survey responses.