David Buss is professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and a past president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. He is the author of several books including The Evolution of Desire, The Dangerous Passion, The Murderer Next Door, and Why Women Have Sex (co-authored with Dr. Cindy Meston). He has written for publications such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Psychology Today, and he has made more than thirty television appearances on shows including CBS This Morning, ABC's 20/20, and NBC's Dateline and Today, among others. Buss has received numerous awards, which include the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology by the American Psychological Association (APA), a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and the G. Stanley Hall Award from the APA. Most recently, he received the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement (2017).
"Buss's book is not only explanatorily powerful and pragmatically
useful, but unfortunately very necessary."--Areo Magazine
"An enthralling exploration into sexual conflicts, mating
psychology, sex differences, and more."--Rob Henderson,
Quillette
"When Men Behave Badly brilliantly shines a scientific light on our
most intimate, and often uncomfortable, entanglements. I highly
recommend it."
--Dr. Wendy Walsh, America's Relationship Expert and author of The
30-Day Love Detox
"Buss tackles numerous difficult, sensitive, and controversial
topics in this book, but throughout he uses a balanced,
evidence-driven approach. He relies on clear arguments that build a
solid impression of how the sexes have evolved distinct strategies,
and how those strategies typically lead to misunderstanding and
conflict. The evidence he provides is convincing, and he draws on a
commendable range of studies for support. Given the breadth of
topics and how they come together repeatedly to highlight patterns
of sex-specific behavior, this book will serve as an important
springboard for understanding more completely men's (and women's)
behavior for years to come. In my opinion, it will be of interest
to a diverse readership--everyone from a person who wonders why men
and women behave so differently in online dating, all the way to
academics who want to learn the nuances of sexual conflict theory.
Definitely a provocative and interesting read!"
--Dr. Maryanne Fisher, editor of The Oxford Handbook of Women and
Competition
"Highly informative and engaging, When Men Behave Badly is an
insightful, sensitive, and honest examination of the sources of
sexual conflict and ways we might be able to reduce its harms.
David Buss does this by elucidating the sex differences in our
evolved sexual strategies, the result of sex differences in optimal
mating strategies. He delves into the dark side of male mating
behavior but also offers approaches that call attention to the 'sex
gap' and how a better understanding of it can help craft policies
to reduce or prevent harms that women disproportionally bear. An
essential read."
--Catherine Salmon, PhD, coauthor of Warrior Lovers
"In When Men Behave Badly, once again David Buss delivers on his
ability to take the most complicated and disturbing of topics and
make sense of it. In characteristic fashion, he supports his
analyses of the mysteries of sexual conflict with solid research
presented in an intriguing and entertaining way. While
demonstrating that bad sexual behaviors have evolved as part of our
fundamental psychology of sex differences, Buss underscores that
such behaviors are not inevitable. Understanding them and why they
evolved is a necessary and critical step in preventing their
perpetuation. This bold and honest look at sexual conflict lays the
foundation for better behavior. A must read."
--Cindy M. Meston, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of
Texas at Austin, and coauthor of Why Women Have Sex
"When Men Behave Badly brilliantly analyzes what has been called
the most widespread human rights problem in the world.
Authoritative, insightful, and sympathetic, Buss's book is a
perfect resource for the #MeToo generation."--Richard Wrangham,
author of The Goodness Paradox
"The public concern with sexual aggression is a great moral
advance, but our intellectual culture has floundered in trying to
understand it because it clings to myths and dogmas that defy
science, common sense, and lived experience. David Buss, one of the
world's experts in sexual conflict in human mating, brings these
back together in a fascinating and timely book which helps us to
understand these evils and better equip us to minimize
them."--Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now
"When Men Behave Badly applies the hard lens of science to the most
contentious and painful issues of our time - stalking, malicious
seduction, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. The result is an
eye-opening perspective on the deep history of men harming women.
David Buss explains which types of men are most likely to be
perpetrators, and why women can be so devastated by the results. He
never explains away this behavior, but instead explains it with the
hope that a deeper understanding can help solve these problems and
free future generations of women from the ever-present fear that
we've been forced to accept as part of life."--Faye Flam, host of
the podcast Follow the Science
"As any primate would attest to, few topics interest us more than
the nature of relationships between the sexes, and David Buss has
long been a leader in turning that interest into rigorous science
based on empirical findings and anchored in evolutionary thinking.
When Men Behave Badly is a major contribution to the
field."--Robert M. Sapolsky, author of Behave
"Buss has untangled the primordial (and eternal) human mating dance
with deft, clarity, precision and charm. Want to know your "Mate
Value?" And why he did something violent to his beloved, perhaps
you? Buss gives us the underlying causes of the battle between the
sexes--and how to overcome sexual conflict. It's steeped in
science--and an exceptional book."--Helen Fisher, author of Anatomy
of Love
"Fearless and honest, David Buss has spent 30 years studying
uncomfortable topics: mating, sex, and violence. They come together
in When Men Behave Badly, Buss' unflinching look at sexual conflict
and what we can do about it. This accessible book explains why
conflict between men and women is inevitable, but sexual coercion
and violence are not. Eliminating violence against women is Buss'
goal, and this book considers paths toward achieving it."--Leda
Cosmides, co-director of the Center for Evolutionary Psychology,
University of California, Santa Barbara
"If you want to understand our minds, you must understand the
evolutionary past that forged them. And if you want to understand
our sexuality, all the more so. There is no better guide for this
than David Buss, one of the country's leading evolutionary
psychologists. This theoretically grounded book has countless vivid
examples and offers a wide-ranging account of the origins of human
sexual behavior and its modern manifestations, helping to make
sense of so many troubling behaviors. Insightful and
provocative."--Nicholas A. Christakis, author of Apollo's Arrow
"In this powerful, provocative, and thought-provoking book, David
Buss takes us through the fundamental reasons for conflicts between
men and women. Drawing from the roots of evolutionary biology and
psychology, he sets out in scholarly detail the potential for
sexual conflicts within and outside relationships. He also shows
how, while evolved differences between men and women can be
recognized, they should not be equated with inevitability of action
or behavior. The book provides an important and in many places
deeply troubling journey into ourselves."--Tracey Chapman,
Professor of Evolutionary Genetics, University of East Anglia
"This fascinating book is like the long lost operating manual for
men's and women's minds, written tens of thousands of years ago and
only just now reconstructed. Buss explains so many of the games
people play as they strive to attract, keep, and manipulate mates.
Trying to understand and reduce sexual harassment, sexual violence,
and ordinary marital misery without Buss's evolutionary lens would
be like trying to understand and fight epidemics without germ
theory."--Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind and coauthor
of The Coddling of the American Mind
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