Genetics and the Evolution of Social Systems

I first became interested in the behaviour of fighting laboratory mice 1 because these animals were obviously capable of exhibiting the sort of destructively violent behaviour that is of most concern to students of human aggression. At the time there was much to be concerned about as we watched the events that led to World War II, perhaps the most destructive episode in human history. I adopted the mouse as a model with very little prior thought, simply because it was available and because I wanted to do something that would lead to greater understanding of ourselves. Now at this distance in time, in the perspective of the work of hundreds of investigators who followed this lead, it is possible to take a more objective viewpoint and to consider just how good a model for human behaviour the house mouse has proved to be.