The Neuroscience of Fair Play: Why We (Usually) Follow the Golden Rule

256 Pages·2007·1.67 MB·English

by  Donald W. Pfaff

The NeuroscieNce
of Fair Play

The NeuroscieNce
of Fair Play
Why We (Usually)
Follow the Golden Rule

Donald W. Pfaff, Ph.D.
With a Foreword by Edward O. Wilson
Dana Press New York • Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2007, all rights reserved
Published by Dana Press
New York/Washington, D.C.
The Dana Foundation
745 Fifth Avenue, Suite 900
New York, NY 10151
900 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
DANA is a federally registered trademark.
ISBN-13: 978-1-932594-27-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pfaff, Donald W., 1939–
The neuroscience of fair play : why we (usually) follow
the Golden rule / by Donald W. Pfaff.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-932594-27-0
1. Neuropsychology—Moral and ethical aspects.
2. Ethics—Physiological aspects. 3. Golden rule.
I. Title.
QP360.P4625 2007
174.2’968—dc22
2007024380
Cover Design by Christopher Scardina / William Stilwell
Text Design by Kachergis Book Design
www.dana.org
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Foreword by Edward O. Wilson ix
1. Subway Story 1
2. The Golden Rule 7
3. Being Afraid 21
4. Memory of Fear 40
5. Losing Oneself 61
6. Sex and Parental Love 80
7. Sociability 99
8. The Urge to Harm 121
9. Murder and Other Mayhem 145
10. Balancing Act 161
11. Temperament in the Making 179
12. A New Science of Social Behavior 202
References 211
Index 219

ACKnoWLeDGMents
Initially, I wrote this book for other scientists as a
form of “intellectual play” that might help us to
think about more complex patterns of behavior
than we usually do. But then, the evidence and ar-
guments seemed so interesting that I thought many
smart folks who do not do brain research for a liv-
ing might want to read the book as well. As a work-
ing scientist, I did not feel capable of presenting
the material clearly enough for that purpose, and
sought help. The brilliant conceptualizations and
expressive powers of my editor at Dana Press, Jane
Nevins, have made all the difference in changing
the book from an Annual Reviews of Neuroscience
type of compendium into a presentation that might
interest those outside my field. Additionally, sci-
ence writers Sandra Ackerman and Luba Vikhanski
have worked patiently with me to expand some ex-
planations and limit others in order to achieve a
smooth narrative flow. I am grateful for all of this
help. Susan Strider, at the Rockefeller University, is
a graphic artist whose skill made the illustrations
clear and attractive.
vii

FoReWoRD
The Neuroscience of Fair Play establishes more persua-
sively than any previous book the cause-and-effect
linkages between biology, psychology, and the hu-
manities. It is on the one hand a superb introduc-
tion to neuroscience in the service of moral phi-
losophy; and on the other, in reverse, it shows how
interest in the innate traits of human nature have
stimulated and guided some of the key recent ad-
vances in neuroscience. Donald W. Pfaff, a lead-
ing researcher in this intermediate field, delivers
a crystal-clear tour through the relevant technical
intricacies of the science. The ideas that emerge
are among the most important in their relevance
to human affairs. They inform philosophy because
they have so much to say about the mind, but they
also have many practical implications for psychol-
ogy and medicine.
Pfaff shows us that psychological phenomena
can now be tracked to a substantial degree from
genes through neuronal activity to brain circuitry
and behavior. The result of this outwardly esoteric
research is a major advance in human self-under-
ix