<P> The ethologist John Paul Scott coined the word sociobiology at a 1948 conference on genetics and social behaviour , and it became widely used after it was popularized by Edward O. Wilson in his 1975 book , Sociobiology : The New Synthesis . However , the influence of evolution on behavior has been of interest to biologists and philosophers since soon after the discovery of evolution itself . Peter Kropotkin 's Mutual Aid : A Factor of Evolution , written in the early 1890s , is a popular example . Antecedents of modern sociobiological thinking can be traced to the 1960s and the work of such biologists as Richard D. Alexander , Robert Trivers and William D. Hamilton . The idea of the inheritance of behaviour arose from J.B.S. Haldane 's idea about how `` altruistic behaviour '' ( see Altruism ) could be passed from generation to generation . Wilson 's book pioneered and popularized the attempt to explain the evolutionary mechanics behind social behaviors such as altruism , aggression , and nurturance , primarily in ants ( Wilson 's own research specialty ) and other Hymenoptera , but also in other animals . The final chapter of the book is devoted to sociobiological explanations of human behavior , and Wilson later wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning book , On Human Nature , that addressed human behavior specifically . </P>
<P> The ethologist John Paul Scott coined the word sociobiology at a 1948 conference on genetics and social behaviour , and it became widely used after it was popularized by Edward O. Wilson in his 1975 book , Sociobiology : The New Synthesis . However , the influence of evolution on behavior has been of interest to biologists and philosophers since soon after the discovery of evolution itself . Peter Kropotkin 's Mutual Aid : A Factor of Evolution , written in the early 1890s , is a popular example . Antecedents of modern sociobiological thinking can be traced to the 1960s and the work of such biologists as Richard D. Alexander , Robert Trivers and William D. Hamilton . The idea of the inheritance of behaviour arose from J.B.S. Haldane 's idea about how `` altruistic behaviour '' ( see Altruism ) could be passed from generation to generation . Wilson 's book pioneered and popularized the attempt to explain the evolutionary mechanics behind social behaviors such as altruism , aggression , and nurturance , primarily in ants ( Wilson 's own research specialty ) and other Hymenoptera , but also in other animals . The final chapter of the book is devoted to sociobiological explanations of human behavior , and Wilson later wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning book , On Human Nature , that addressed human behavior specifically . </P>
who is credited with coining the term sociobiology
who is credited with coining the term sociobiology
John Paul Scott
John Paul Scott