Grinker pursues the wraith of the unified theory of human behavior. He postulates anxiety as the common denominator in the biological, psychological, and social spheres, using the analogous effects of corticotropin in biological stress, and of rumor in social stress. Aside from the question of the fruitfulness of this approach, in developing his theme Grinker seems to oversimplify or distort ordinary analytic concepts. For instance, he says: 'Persons laden with irrational guilt feelings are more easily stimulated to anticipate harm to themselves—what is psychoanalytically called castration anxiety'.