The Tending Instinct: How Nurturing Is Essential to Who We Are and How We Live - Book Review

Science News, Sept 14, 2002

SHELLEY E. TAYLOR

The classic psychological theory of stress was based on the fight-or-flight response. In the course of her research on stress, psychologist Taylor realized that the theory was based mostly on studies of men. Taylor proposes a new paradigm, the "tend-or-befriend" theory. With data from neuroscience, psychology, genetics, and evolutionary biology, she builds the case that people are biologically programmed to care for one another. While this quality is more evident in women than in men, Taylor argues that it is prevalent in both sexes and conforms to Darwin's survival-of-the-fittest model of evolution as well as strength and aggression do. In fact, she asserts that development of the human brain has been driven by our instinct to tend one another. She shows that our responses to stress--from staying calm or fending off illness--are directly connected to the quality of tending that we receive as children and adults. Times Bks, 2002, 290 p., hardcover, $25.00.