Eugenics and the Nature-nurture Debate in the Twentieth Century

Gillette shows that the sciences of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology were undergoing rapid development in the early twentieth century. However, many of the early researchers in these sciences were also eugenicists. With the rise of behaviorism and the reaction against eugenics in the 1930s, any scientific claims that behavior might be influenced by heredity were suppressed for ideological reasons. 

Aaron Gillette is Assistant Professor of History, University of Houston-Downtown.

Introduction * The Rebirth of Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology * Foundations for a “Newâ€� Synthesis * Recent Studies on Human Sexuality * PART II: THE BIRTH OF SOCIOBIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY * The Animal Nature of Humans * Earlier Studies on Human Sexuality * Evolution, Ethics, and Culture * PART III: THE DEATH OF SOCIOBIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY * The Rise of Environmental Behaviorism * Evolutionary Psychology under Attack * The Death of Evolutionary Psychology * The Dark Forest * Conclusion