The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals and the Evolution of Mind – Early Writings of Charles Darwin" (1980). Development of the Text 1866 - 1872: Very little of Darwin's turmoil surfaced in "On the Origin of Species" in 1859, although Chapter 7 contains a mildly expressed argument on instinctive behaviour. In the public management of his evolutionary theory, Darwin understood that its relevance to human emotional life could draw a hostile response. Nevertheless, while preparing the text of "The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication" in 1866, Darwin took the decision to publish a book on "human" ancestry, sexual selection and emotional life. After his
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex to the forces of sexual selection. While debates on the subject continues, in January 1871 Darwin started on another book, using left over material on emotional expressions, which became "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals". In recent years controversy also involved the peacock tail, the most famous symbol of the principle of sexual selection. A seven-year Japanese study of free-ranging peafowl came to the conclusion that female peafowl do not select mates merely on the basis of their trains. Mariko Takahashi found no evidence that peahens expressed any preference for peacocks with more elaborate trains, such as