biology

Good Natured

Good Natured is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Good Natured rather than just read about it. In short: Good Natured is a book by primatologist Frans de Waal on animal behavior and the evolution of ethics. Publishing history The book was published in 1996 by Harvard University Press under the full title Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals.

Key takeaways

Good Natured belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Good Natured to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Good Natured from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Good Natured is a book by primatologist Frans de Waal on animal behavior and the evolution of ethics.

Publishing history The book was published in 1996 by Harvard University Press under the full title Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals. Much of the book details observations of primate behavior, especially that of chimpanzees and bonobos. On the final page, he concludes:

We seem to be reaching a point at which science can wrest morality from the hands of philosophers. That this is already happening—albeit largely at a theoretical level—is evident from recent books by, among others, Richard D. Alexander, Robert Frank, James Q. Wilson, and Robert Wright (journalist). The occasional disagreements within this budding field are far outweighed by the shared belief that evolution needs to be part of any satisfactory explanation of morality. … It takes up space in our heads, it reaches out to fellow human beings, and it is as much a part of what we are as the tendencies that it holds in check.

Notes

References Frans, de Waal (1996). Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals. London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-35660-8.

External links Good Natured at the Harvard University Press Review by Elena Madison Archived 2006-10-12 at the Wayback Machine Review by William C. McGrew

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Good Natured

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Good Natured claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Good Natured before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Good Natured ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Good Natured

In research: Good Natured appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Good Natured in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Good Natured is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biology books, Ethology, Harvard University Press books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Good Natured outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Good Natured in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Good Natured means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Good Natured out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Good Natured in simple terms?

Good Natured is a book by primatologist Frans de Waal on animal behavior and the evolution of ethics. Publishing history The book was published in 1996 by Harvard University Press under the full title Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals.

Why does Good Natured matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Good Natured?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Good Natured.