Person. in&id. DiB_ Vol. I I, No. 8, pp. 881483, 1990 Printed in Great Britain

0191-8%9/90 53.00 + 0.00 Pqamon Press pk

BOOK REVIEWS

ARNOLD H. Buss: Personality: Evolutionary Heritage and Human Disrincriveness. Erlbaum, Hillsdale. N.J. (1988). 268 pp. f 26.50.

This is a refreshing approach to the study of personality, focussing on seven behavioural tendencies that Buss maintains humans share with other primates and most mammals. These are: activity, fearfulness, impulsiveness, sociability, nurturance, aggressiveness and dominance. Other traits, such as achievement motivation, he suggests are of less fundamental importance because they are either derivative of the more primary traits or culturally dependent.

The argument for the biological importance of these seven traits is based partly on genetic analysis but also on studies which bear on the evolutionary significance of variations in these predispositions. For example, in the case of impulsiveness there are circumstances in which ‘he who hesitates is lost’ and other circumstances in which ‘fools rush in’. It follows that variations within a species on this trait will enhance adaptiveness.

This view of personality may be a partial one but it comes from the ‘dark side’ from whence few have looked before and is therefore to be recommended as an antidote to the social learning perspective that has prevailed for so many years.

ADRIAN FURNHAM: The Protestant Work Ethic. Routledge, London (1990). 305 pp.

In 1905 Max Weber proposed that the Protestant Work Ethic was the driving force responsible for the remarkable economic achievements of the Protestant nations of northern Europe during the last four centuries. After 85 yr the thesis remains one of the major theories of the social sciences. Here Adrian Fumham reviews psychological work on the concept. He covers its components and association with conservatism and McClelland’s similar concept of achievement motivation. Evidence that the Protestant work ethic is related to work effort is reasonably solid, but the author is sceptical about a relationship between the strength of the ethic in a society and its rate of economic growth. It is common either to welcome or bewail, according to point of view, the decline of the Protestant work ethic among the younger generation, but the author is sceptical of this too and presents evidence that reports of the death of the ethic are premature.

This is an excellent review volume and source book on the Protestant work ethic and deserves to be widely read by those working in this field.

RICHARD LYNN

GLEN WILSON: The Great Sex Divide: A Srudy of Male-Female Diferences. Owen, London (1989). 160 pp. f 14.50, Hardback.

This is an excellent popular exposition of the burgeoning literature on sex differences. Twenty, or even 10yr ago it was customary, particularly in the United States, to decry any ideas that sex differences in behaviour might be due to genetic causes, and everything was pinned on to role models and other environmental influences. Slowly the pendulum is swinging back to a more realistic appreciation of the true facts of the situation, and it is becoming more widely realized that while there is a good deal of overlap between the sexes, nevertheless there are strong differences due to the masculinizing influence of antenatal hormones, particularly testosterone+differences both within as well as between the sexes. Wilson discusses the evidence from human biology, as well as from animals and from other cultures; he deals with the problem of whether these genetic differences can be suppressed by the culture, and goes on finally to discuss talented achievement, the question of crime, and other social achievements and behaviours related to sex.

It is often suggested by feminists that scientists who emphasize biological determinants, however much their arguments may be based on facts, are intrinsically sexist and anti-feminist. Any such accusations would certainly not be true of Glenn Wilson. who affirms the importance of social equality, while denying the biological identity of the two sexes. This is an excellent popular discussion of the evidence, no less rigorous for adopting a rather light and witty tone, and avoiding too complex and detailed discussions. It could easily be used as a test for introductory classes in psychology and psychiatry dealing with the topic of the differences between the sexes.

H. J. EYSENCK

ROBERT J. STERNBERG: The Triarchic Mind: A New Theory of Human Inrelligence. Viking Penguin, U.S.A. (1988). 354 pp. 58.95.

This is another attempt by Stemberg to explain his triarchic theory of intelligence, this time in a popular manner, destined for people who believe him when he states on the cover: “You can learn to be smarter”. He also promises us “a new theory of human intelligence”. This is not quite true. Stemberg simply redefines intelligence in a much broader sense than is usual, including what we normally regard as personality, motivation, etc. He is concerned more with ‘practical intelligence’ than with intelligence as normally regarded by psychologists and measured by IQ tests. Is this sensible? We may doubt whether

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