If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Have you ever wondered why humans are capable of both extreme acts of kindness and shocking violence, often within the same hour?
- Did you know that the decisions you make right now are influenced by biological triggers that started firing seconds, years, and even centuries ago?
- Are you curious about how much of your daily behavior is actually a choice, and how much is dictated by the hidden chemistry of your brain?
Listen to Behave — Free Audiobook
Loading player...
Key Takeaways from Behave
- Understand how the brain's three distinct layers—the ancient regulatory system, the emotional limbic system, and the cognitive cortex—collaborate to trigger or suppress your behavioral reactions.
- Discover why human behavior is far less rational than expected, largely driven by subliminal sensory cues like environmental chaos, subtle biases, or a person's attractiveness.
- Learn how internal physical states like pain do not universally cause aggression, but instead affect naturally aggressive and nonaggressive individuals in completely opposite ways.
- Uncover the truth behind testosterone to see that the hormone does not directly cause aggression, but rather boosts confidence, optimism, and feelings of dominance.
- Explore how violence and behavior are highly contextual, and how analyzing the exact biological timeline of our actions can help improve your decision-making and relationships.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from Behave
Mind Map
Behave
Timeframes of Behavior
Milliseconds Before
Seconds to Minutes Before
Years to Decades Before
Centuries to Millennia Before
Brain Regions & Aggression
Amygdala
Frontal Cortex
Sensory & Social Cues
Visual Cues
Auditory Cues
Social Context
Hormones & Context
Testosterone
Oxytocin
Developmental Impacts
Adolescence
Childhood Adversity
Culture, Ecology & Geography
Collectivist Cultures (e.g., East Asia)
Individualist Cultures (e.g., US)
Geographic History
Neurobiology of Politics & Morality
Liberals
Conservatives
Neurology of Deceit
Empathy vs. Compassion
Empathy
Compassion
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 10
What role does the frontal cortex play in relation to the amygdala regarding aggressive behavior?
Behave — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: What’s in it for me? Get a better sense of what causes and influences human behavior.
Chapter 2: To understand human behavior, we must delve into the biology of the brain, culture and history.
Chapter 3: Two parts of the brain control aggression – and whether or not it's acted upon.
Chapter 4: Sensory cues in our immediate environment shape our behaviors.
Chapter 5: Hormones affect human behavior, but this influence is context-specific.
Chapter 6: Childhood and adolescent experiences impact our behavioral development.
Chapter 7: Cultural factors also explain societal behavior.
Chapter 8: Local ecology and geography influence civilizational and behavioral development.
Chapter 9: The brain’s neurobiology can inform political views and morality.
Chapter 10: Empathy and compassion aren’t as closely connected as is often thought.
Behave Summary & Overview
Humans are complex beings, and human behavior doubly so. Every human act is a result of a myriad of factors, from brain chemistry to social conditioning, that have developed over millennia. In Behave (2017), renowned professor Robert Sapolsky takes a journey into the depths of the human condition, demonstrating the reasons behind the best – and worst – of human behavior.
Who Should Listen to Behave?
- Anyone interested in behavioral psychology
- Students of neurology or biology
- Curious readers looking to gain a better understanding of their own minds
Books Similar to Behave
Readers who enjoyed this also liked these titles.
The Laws of Human Nature
★ 4.5 / 5 • 772 ratingsWhat affects your day-to-day life
The Biological Mind
★ 4.4 / 5 • 162 ratingsHow Brain, Body, and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are
The Moral Animal
★ 4.3 / 5 • 185 ratingsWhy We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology
The Book of Humans
★ 4.3 / 5 • 228 ratingsA Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us