War and Human Nature

Author:   Stephen Peter Rosen
Publisher:   Princeton University Press
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9780691130569


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   25 February 2007
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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War and Human Nature


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Overview

Why did President John F. Kennedy choose a strategy of confrontation during the Cuban missile crisis even though his secretary of defense stated that the presence of missiles in Cuba made no difference? Why did large numbers of Iraqi troops surrender during the Gulf War even though they had been ordered to fight and were capable of doing so? Why did Hitler declare war on the United States knowing full well the power of that country? War and Human Nature argues that new findings about the way humans are shaped by their inherited biology may help provide answers to such questions. This seminal work by former Defense Department official Stephen Peter Rosen contends that human evolutionary history has affected the way we process the information we use to make decisions. The result is that human choices and calculations may be very different from those predicted by standard models of rational behavior. This notion is particularly true in the area of war and peace, Rosen contends. Human emotional arousal affects how people learn the lessons of history. For example, stress and distress influence people's views of the future, and testosterone levels play a role in human social conflict.This thought-provoking and timely work explores the mind that has emerged from the biological sciences over the last generation. In doing so, it helps shed new light on many persistent puzzles in the study of war.

Full Product Details

Author:   Stephen Peter Rosen
Publisher:   Princeton University Press
Imprint:   Princeton University Press
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.312kg
ISBN:  

9780691130569


ISBN 10:   0691130566
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   25 February 2007
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language:   English

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Reviews

A thought-provoking, timely synthesis of political decision-making in light of recent progress in neurobiology, psychology and behavioral biology. Rosen explores an intriguing new formulation of biologically-motivated political science. --Michael L. Platt, Duke University War and Human Nature holds the potential to open an entirely new area of insight into war. It will provide a new way of thinking about the collapse of armies, the choices and behaviors of tyrants, and the way in which differing elite selection mechanisms may wittingly or otherwise lead to individuals with differing cognitive profiles ending up in office. The use of the cognitive science literature is novel and provides insight into an area of research social scientists typically ignore. --Allan C. Stam, Dartmouth College This is a lucid, beautifully-written, informative and provocative book. It presents the modern science of choice and decision persuasively. --Thomas Schelling, University of Maryland


A thought-provoking, timely synthesis of political decision-making in light of recent progress in neurobiology, psychology and behavioral biology. Rosen explores an intriguing new formulation of biologically-motivated political science. -Michael L. Platt, Duke University War and Human Nature holds the potential to open an entirely new area of insight into war. It will provide a new way of thinking about the collapse of armies, the choices and behaviors of tyrants, and the way in which differing elite selection mechanisms may wittingly or otherwise lead to individuals with differing cognitive profiles ending up in office. The use of the cognitive science literature is novel and provides insight into an area of research social scientists typically ignore. -Allan C. Stam, Dartmouth College This is a lucid, beautifully-written, informative and provocative book. It presents the modern science of choice and decision persuasively. -Thomas Schelling, University of Maryland


A thought-provoking, timely synthesis of political decision-making in light of recent progress in neurobiology, psychology and behavioral biology. -- Michael L. Platt


"""This is a lucid, beautifully-written, informative and provocative book. It presents the modern science of choice and decision persuasively.""—Thomas Schelling, University of Maryland ""War and Human Nature holds the potential to open an entirely new area of insight into war. It will provide a new way of thinking about the collapse of armies, the choices and behaviors of tyrants, and the way in which differing elite selection mechanisms may wittingly or otherwise lead to individuals with differing cognitive profiles ending up in office. The use of the cognitive science literature is novel and provides insight into an area of research social scientists typically ignore.""—Allan C. Stam, Dartmouth College ""A thought-provoking, timely synthesis of political decision-making in light of recent progress in neurobiology, psychology and behavioral biology. Rosen explores an intriguing new formulation of biologically-motivated political science.""—Michael L. Platt, Duke University"


Author Information

Stephen Peter Rosen is a political scientist and Beton Michael Kaneb Professor of National Security and Military Affairs at Harvard University

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