Abstract
THIS book, presenting in small compass an extraordinary mass of learning and research, the research of others being amply acknowledged, deals, as the title says, with the framework of human behaviour. That framework connotes the equipment with which any person is endowed before he begins his individual development in society. Part of this endowment is due to hereditary factors, and part to the kind of environment in which he has been born. In this book, by no means the author's first production on the subject, he considers the part played by heredity and environment in the physical and mental make-up of individuals, and the part played by sex and racial differences. He then goes on to discuss the behaviour of groups, national and social, and the influences by which they are motivated. The reader will need to know something of the modern psychologist's use of the word 'pattern'— definable as a complex whole, characterized by a definite arrangement or interrelation of parts; as a behaviour pattern or a pattern of brain activity, Many readers will find good use for the eighth chapter, entitled "Conclusion". The abounding references to other books are minutely careful. Dr. Blackburn has, in publishing this volume, made a substantial addition to the International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction.
The Framework of Human Behaviour
By Dr. Julian Blackburn. (International Library of Socialogy and Social Reconstruction.) Pp vii + 158. (London: Kegan Paul and Co. Ltd., 1947.) 12s. 6d. net.
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The Framework of Human Behaviour. Nature 161, 502 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161502b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161502b0