DOCSLIB.ORG

War Societies, There Has Been No Historically Documented Case of Organized fighting and Killing Francis T

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
War Societies, There Has Been No Historically Documented Case of Organized fighting and Killing Francis T W War societies, there has been no historically documented case of organized fighting and killing Francis T. McAndrew by groups of women against other groups of Knox College, Galesburg, IL, USA women. The consistency with which males are the organizers and perpetrators of group conflict has led many scholars to conclude that the male Synonyms propensity for group violence is rooted in more than the learning of culturally prescribed gender Battle; Combat; Conflict; Hostilities; Invasion; roles. Most evolutionary psychologists believe Raiding; Warfare that the roots of warfare can be traced to the competition between males for status and access to women (McAndrew 2017). Definition “War” is an armed conflict between nations Male Competition for Mates Is Intense or organized groups such as tribes, gangs, kin groups, or political factions. The adaptive problems faced by men and women throughout history were quite different, and aggression proved to be a more adaptive response Introduction for males than for females. Sexual competition for mates has always been more intense among males It is obvious that warfare is a highly cooperative than among females, especially in the polyga- activity that requires good communication and mous societies that appear to have been typical cooperation with allies and intelligent self-control in the prehistoric human world. (Tooby and Cosmides 2010), but there has been a The stakes were very high for men in this long-standing disagreement among historians and environment, as the winners of this competition social scientists regarding the origins of human would come away with the greatest number of warfare. In the last couple of decades, evolution- women (and the most desirable women). The ary scientists have brought yet another perspec- losers ran the risk of genetic annihilation by their tive to bear on this issue. failure to successfully win the status and resources The first point to be emphasized is the extent to necessary to attract mates. Historically, powerful which war is almost exclusively a male activity. In men have always enjoyed greater sexual access to spite of the diversity to be found across human women than men lower in the pecking order, and # Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 T. K. Shackelford, V. A. Weekes-Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2235-1 2 War violence, including war, can often be traced to this Many studies demonstrate that people who grim struggle for status and mates among men. sacrifice for the group by engaging in costly altru- Violence committed against the right people at istic activities do in fact achieve elevated social the right time has commonly been a ticket to social status, respect, and recognition as a result of their success. For example, among the Yanomamo of public selflessness (McAndrew and Perilloux South America, men who had killed other men, 2012a, b; Willer 2009). For a costly signal to be especially during wars and skirmishes with other effective, it must honestly convey valuable infor- villages, acquired significantly more wives than mation about the individual sending the signal, men who had not yet killed anyone (Chagnon and it must be impossible to fake. No researchers 2013). Because having killed someone in war suggest that heroes consciously sit down and cal- was usually good for one’s reputation, many soci- culate all of the benefits that will come their way if eties developed ceremonies for recognizing such they survive the heroic action. Rather, it is thought accomplishments. In modern societies, these take that such impulses have been selected for because the form of prestigious awards such as the Con- heroic behavior has provided competitive advan- gressional Medal of Honor in the United States, tages for men throughout human history. and many countries have national holidays to celebrate the heroism of those who have fought and/or died in wars. Have Men Evolved to Make War? To insure that public recognitions of valor dur- ing war serve as honest signals of heroic behavior, Dutch psychologist Mark van Vugt proposed the sanctions may be brought to bear against individ- male warrior hypothesis as a way of explaining uals who falsely claim to have attained military the results of research demonstrating that men honors. For example, in the United States, the show stronger group identification and more “Stolen Valor Act of 2005” was signed into law cooperation with ingroup members than do by President George W. Bush to prohibit women during times of threat from outside groups the unauthorized wear, sale, or manufacture of (Van Vugt et al. 2007). His theory suggests that military decorations and medals. This law was men have evolved a predisposition to engage in extended by the “Stolen Valor Act of 2013” collective cooperative aggression against signed into law by President Barack Obama. The outgroups, a tendency that has likely been 2013 law makes it a crime for a person to fraud- strongly reinforced through culture traditions ulently claim to have received military medals and socialization. Puts (2010) has also pointed and decorations. out that men tend to form more hierarchical same-sex coalitional groups than do women and that they are more likely than women to make Could War Heroism Be Adaptive? strong ingroup/outgroup distinctions that result in the dehumanization of outgroup members (Buss 2015). Evolutionary psychologists believe that even A team of European psychologists explored apparently selfless impulses such as volunteering the proposition that war provides an arena for to fight in a war must provide some adaptive men to compete and impress both their male rivals advantage for individuals. Costly signaling theory and females who might be potential mates (Rusch (Bereczkei et al. 2010; Bliege Bird et al. 2005; et al. 2015). In one study, they found that Grafen 1990; McAndrew 2002; Zahavi 1977) 464 American men who had won the Medal of suggests that conspicuous war heroism may be a Honor during World War II eventually had more way for individuals to advertise desirable personal children than other US service men who had not qualities that increase the likelihood that they will been so heroically distinguished. This is consis- be chosen as a mate or an ally and be positioned tent with the idea that heroism gets rewarded with for access to future resources. greater reproductive success. War 3 In a second study, 92 women rated the sexual For the 5-year period from 2010 to 2014, the attractiveness of men who had behaved heroically Darwin Award winners were skewed toward in war as being higher than that of soldiers who men by a margin of 38–5, with two of the five had served but not been identified as heroes. Tell- women who made the list getting there by being ingly, women did not show this increased attrac- talked into having sex with men under less than tion toward men who had behaved heroically in rational circumstances (DarwinAwards.com). sports or business situations. A third study Men are sensitive to signals that advertise the revealed that behaving heroically in war does not physical strength, fighting ability, and aggressive increase the attractiveness of female war heroes to inclinations of other men (Sell et al. 2009, 2010) men. In summary, heroism in time of war is sexier and actively assess the likely outcomes of violent than any other kind of heroism but only for men. encounters between themselves and other men Similarly enhanced access to females has been (Fox 1997). Today, the proliferation of sports documented for males who join violent street undoubtedly developed as a constructive alterna- gangs (Palmer and Tilley 1995). tive for dealing with the proclivities of young Young men are particularly concerned with males that evolved in a very different time. In a status and heroic opportunities for sound evolu- legally sanctioned gladiatorial arena, young men tionary reasons. In early human societies, compet- compete to exhibit the same skills – throwing, itive success or failure in early adulthood clubbing, running, wrestling, tackling, and eye- determined a man’s standing in a social group hand coordination – that would have made them for the rest of his life. It wasn’t possible to simply successful fighters and hunters in the ancestral hit the “reset” button and join another group, environment. The popular appeal of spectator so what happened during the teen years mattered sports, especially for men, probably occurs at a lot. For this reason, high-risk competition least in part because it taps into an innate interest between young males provided an opportunity in the physical capabilities of other men. for “showing off” the abilities needed to acquire The idea that men use war as a way of compet- resources, exhibit strength, and meet any chal- ing with each other to impress women has lenges to one’s status (Iredale et al. 2008; clearly been around for quite some time. For McAndrew 2009). Consequently, heroic or even example, the Sioux warrior Rain in the Face recklessly daredevil behavior was rewarded with once commented on the fact that the presence of status and respect – assuming, of course, that the women in a war party caused his warriors to vie young man survived the ordeal. Displaying hero- with one another more intensely in displaying ism in time of war was a primary way of their valor (Philbrick 2010). accomplishing these goals. Hence, it should not be surprising that historical data confirm that the proportion of a population made up of What Are the Necessary Precursors to young men is one of the best predictors of when War? a society is most likely to go to war (Mesquida and Wiener 1996). In addition to the aforementioned prerequisite The relentlessness of risky, aggressive behav- of having a sufficient number of young men in ior by young males has prompted Wilson and a group who are able to fight, evolutionary Daly (1985) to label this behavioral tendency the social scientists have long recognized that a “Young Male Syndrome.” number of other conditions predict a group’s The results of the annual “Darwin Awards” willingness to wage war.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Inter-Group Cooperation in Humans and Other Animals
    Inter-group cooperation in humans and other animals Biology Letters: Author Pre-print Elva J. H. Robinson1 and Jessica L. Barker2 1. University of York, Department of Biology and York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis 2. Aarhus University, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies Abstract Social interactions are often characterised by cooperation within groups and conflict or competition between groups. In certain circumstances, however, cooperation can arise between social groups. Here we examine the circumstances under which inter-group cooperation is expected to emerge and present examples with particular focus on groups in two well-studied but dissimilar taxa: humans and social insects. Drivers for the evolution of inter-group cooperation include overarching threats from predators, competitors or adverse conditions, and group-level resource asymmetries. Resources can differ between groups in both quantity and type. Where the difference is in type, inequalities can lead to specialisation and division of labour between groups, a phenomenon characteristic of human societies, but rarely seen in other animals. The ability to identify members of one’s own group is essential for social coherence; we consider the proximate roles of identity effects in shaping inter- group cooperation and allowing membership of multiple groups. Finally, we identify numerous valuable avenues for future research that will improve our understanding of the processes shaping inter-group cooperation. Introduction Across taxa, group-living organisms tend to behave differently towards members of their own group (in-group) than towards members of other groups (out-groups) (Table 1). This characteristically involves two behaviours that are distinct but often co-occur: 1) cooperation with in-group members and 2) conflict with out-groups [1].
    [Show full text]
  • Sensory and Cognitive Adaptations to Social Living in Insect Societies Tom Wenseleersa,1 and Jelle S
    COMMENTARY COMMENTARY Sensory and cognitive adaptations to social living in insect societies Tom Wenseleersa,1 and Jelle S. van Zwedena A key question in evolutionary biology is to explain the solitarily or form small annual colonies, depending upon causes and consequences of the so-called “major their environment (9). And one species, Lasioglossum transitions in evolution,” which resulted in the pro- marginatum, is even known to form large perennial euso- gressive evolution of cells, organisms, and animal so- cial colonies of over 400 workers (9). By comparing data cieties (1–3). Several studies, for example, have now from over 30 Halictine bees with contrasting levels of aimed to determine which suite of adaptive changes sociality, Wittwer et al. (7) now show that, as expected, occurred following the evolution of sociality in insects social sweat bee species invest more in sensorial machin- (4). In this context, a long-standing hypothesis is that ery linked to chemical communication, as measured by the evolution of the spectacular sociality seen in in- the density of their antennal sensillae, compared with sects, such as ants, bees, or wasps, should have gone species that secondarily reverted back to a solitary life- hand in hand with the evolution of more complex style. In fact, the same pattern even held for the socially chemical communication systems, to allow them to polymorphic species L. albipes if different populations coordinate their complex social behavior (5). Indeed, with contrasting levels of sociality were compared (Fig. whereas solitary insects are known to use pheromone 1, Inset). This finding suggests that the increased reliance signals mainly in the context of mate attraction and on chemical communication that comes with a social species-recognition, social insects use chemical sig- lifestyle indeed selects for fast, matching adaptations in nals in a wide variety of contexts: to communicate their sensory systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Following the Trail of Ants: an Examination of the Work of E.O
    Sacred Heart University DigitalCommons@SHU Writing Across the Curriculum Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) 2012 Following The rT ail Of Ants: An Examination Of The orW k Of E.O. Wilson Samantha Kee Sacred Heart University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/wac_prize Part of the Biodiversity Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Entomology Commons, Other Genetics and Genomics Commons, Philosophy of Science Commons, Religion Commons, and the Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons Recommended Citation Kee, Samantha, "Following The rT ail Of Ants: An Examination Of The orkW Of E.O. Wilson" (2012). Writing Across the Curriculum. 2. http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/wac_prize/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) at DigitalCommons@SHU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Writing Across the Curriculum by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@SHU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Samantha Kee RS 299-Writing With Public Purpose Dr. Brian Stiltner March 2, 2012 Following the trail of ants An examination of the work of E.O. Wilson Edward Osborne Wilson was a born naturalist, in every sense of the word. As a child growing up in Alabama, he collected and studied species of snakes, flies, and the insect that became the basis of his life’s work, ants. He made a goal to record every species of ant that could be found in Alabama—a childhood project that would eventually lead to his first scientific publication. By age 13, Wilson discovered a red, non-native ant in a local town in Alabama, and by the time he entered the University of Alabama, the fire ant had become a significant threat to the state’s agriculture.
    [Show full text]
  • Beowulf and Competitive Altruism,” P
    January 2013 Volume 9, Issue 1 ASEBL Journal Association for the Study of Editor (Ethical Behavior)•(Evolutionary Biology) in Literature St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. Gregory F. Tague, Ph.D. ~ Editorial Board ~▪▪~ Kristy Biolsi, Ph.D. THIS ISSUE FEATURES Kevin Brown, Ph.D. Wendy Galgan, Ph.D. † Eric Luttrell, “Modest Heroism: Beowulf and Competitive Altruism,” p. 2 Cheryl L. Jaworski, M.A. † Dena R. Marks, “Secretary of Disorientation: Writing the Circularity of Belief in Elizabeth Costello,” p.11 Anja Müller-Wood, Ph.D. Kathleen A. Nolan, Ph.D. † Margaret Bertucci Hamper, “’The poor little working girl’: The New Woman, Chloral, and Motherhood in The House of Mirth,” p. 19 Riza Öztürk, Ph.D. † Kristin Mathis, “Moral Courage in The Runaway Jury,” p. 22 Eric Platt, Ph.D. † William Bamberger, “A Labyrinthine Modesty: On Raymond Roussel Michelle Scalise Sugiyama, and Chiasmus,” p. 24 Ph.D. ~▪~ Editorial Interns † St. Francis College Moral Sense Colloquium: - Program Notes, p. 27 Tyler Perkins - Kristy L. Biolsi, “What Does it Mean to be a Moral Animal?”, p. 29 - Sophie Berman, “Science sans conscience n’est que ruine de l’âme,” p.36 ~▪~ Kimberly Resnick † Book Reviews: - Lisa Zunshine, editor, Introduction to Cognitive Cultural Studies. Gregory F. Tague, p. 40 - Edward O. Wilson, The Social Conquest of Earth. Wendy Galgan, p. 42 ~▪~ ~ Contributor Notes, p. 45 Announcements, p. 45 ASEBL Journal Copyright©2013 E-ISSN: 1944-401X *~* [email protected] www.asebl.blogspot.com ASEBL Journal – Volume 9 Issue 1, January 2013 Modest Heroism: Beowulf and Competitive Altruism Eric Luttrell Christian Virtues or Human Virtues? Over the past decade, adaptations of Beowulf in popular media have portrayed the eponymous hero as a dim-witted and egotistical hot-head.
    [Show full text]
  • Group-Level Cooperation in Chimpanzees Is Shaped by Strong Social Ties ✉ Liran Samuni 1,2,3 , Catherine Crockford1,2 & Roman M
    ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20709-9 OPEN Group-level cooperation in chimpanzees is shaped by strong social ties ✉ Liran Samuni 1,2,3 , Catherine Crockford1,2 & Roman M. Wittig 1,2 Humans maintain extensive social ties of varying preferences, providing a range of oppor- tunities for beneficial cooperative exchange that may promote collective action and our unique capacity for large-scale cooperation. Similarly, non-human animals maintain differ- 1234567890():,; entiated social relationships that promote dyadic cooperative exchange, but their link to cooperative collective action is little known. Here, we investigate the influence of social relationship properties on male and female chimpanzee participations in a costly form of group action, intergroup encounters. We find that intergroup encounter participation increases with a greater number of other participants as well as when participants are maternal kin or social bond partners, and that these effects are independent from one another and from the likelihood to associate with certain partners. Together, strong social relation- ships between kin and non-kin facilitate group-level cooperation in one of our closest living relatives, suggesting that social bonds may be integral to the evolution of cooperation in our own species. 1 Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. 2 Taï Chimpanzee Project, CSRS, 01 BP 1303 Abidjan, Ivory Coast. ✉ 3 Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 02138 Cambridge, MA, USA. email: [email protected]
    [Show full text]
  • Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity Forum
    Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity Forum A Forum for Scholarship and Newsletter of the AMSS Section of ASA Volume 3, Issue 2 May 2012 What’s so Darned Special about Church Friends? Robert D. Putnam Harvard University One purpose of my recent research (with David E. Campbell) on religion in America1 was to con- firm and, if possible, extend previous research on the correlation of religiosity and altruistic behavior, such as giving, volunteering, and community involvement. It proved straight-forward to show that each of sev- eral dozen measures of good neighborliness was strongly correlated with religious involvement. Continued on page 19... Our Future is Just Beginning Vincent Jeffries, Acting Chairperson California State University, Northridge The beginning of our endeavors has ended. The study of altruism, morality, and social solidarity is now an established section in the American Sociological Association. We will have our first Section Sessions at the 2012 American Sociological Association Meetings in Denver, Colorado, this August. There is a full slate of candidates for the ASA elections this spring, and those chosen will take office at the Meetings. Continued on page 4... The Revival of Russian Sociology and Studies of This Issue: Social Solidarity From the Editor 2 Dmitry Efremenko and Yaroslava Evseeva AMSS Awards 3 Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences Scholarly Updates 12 The article was executed in the framework of the research project Social solidarity as a condition of society transformations: Theoretical foundations, Bezila 16 Russian specificity, socio-biological and socio-psychological aspects, supported Dissertation by the Russian foundation for basic research (Project 11-06-00347а).
    [Show full text]
  • Comparative Methods Offer Powerful Insights Into Social Evolution in Bees Sarah Kocher, Robert Paxton
    Comparative methods offer powerful insights into social evolution in bees Sarah Kocher, Robert Paxton To cite this version: Sarah Kocher, Robert Paxton. Comparative methods offer powerful insights into social evolution in bees. Apidologie, Springer Verlag, 2014, 45 (3), pp.289-305. 10.1007/s13592-014-0268-3. hal- 01234748 HAL Id: hal-01234748 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01234748 Submitted on 27 Nov 2015 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Apidologie (2014) 45:289–305 Review article * INRA, DIB and Springer-Verlag France, 2014 DOI: 10.1007/s13592-014-0268-3 Comparative methods offer powerful insights into social evolution in bees 1 2 Sarah D. KOCHER , Robert J. PAXTON 1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA 2Institute for Biology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany Received 9 September 2013 – Revised 8 December 2013 – Accepted 2 January 2014 Abstract – Bees are excellent models for studying the evolution of sociality. While most species are solitary, many form social groups. The most complex form of social behavior, eusociality, has arisen independently four times within the bees.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction:Thinking Through Sociality
    Thinking through Sociality THINKING THROUGH SOCIALITY An Anthropological Interrogation of Key Concepts Edited by _ Vered Amit Published in 2015 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com © 2015 Vered Amit All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Amit, Vered, 1955- Thinking through sociality : an anthropological interrogation of key concepts / edited by Vered Amit. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-78238-585-1 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-78238-586-8 (ebook) 1. Ethnology. 2. Social interaction. 3. Anthropology. I. Title. GN325.A44 2015 302--dc23 2014033522 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-78238-585-1 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-78238-586-8 (ebook) Contents Acknowledgements vi _ Introduction Thinking through Sociality: The Importance of 1 Mid-level Concepts Vered Amit with Sally Anderson, Virginia Caputo, John Postill, Deborah Reed-Danahay and Gabriela Vargas-Cetina 1 Disjuncture: The Creativity of, and Breaks in, Everyday 21 Associations and Routines Vered Amit 2 Fields: Dynamic Configurations of Practices, Games and 47 Socialities John Postill 3 Social Space: Distance, Proximity
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution of Cooperation Cooperation Vs
    Cooperation Main points for today Cooperation • Sociality, cooperation, mutualism, altruism - definitions • Kin selection – Hamilton’s rule, how to calculate r Why is it surprising and • Group selection – the price equation, green beards, and assortment how does it evolve • Classic examples – alarm calls, helpers at the nest, social insects, predator inspection, food sharing Definitions ‘Social behavior’ is NOT cooperative behavior Cooperation: Displaying a behavior that benefits another Group living vs. cooperation individual. (If both benefit that's mutualism.) Sociality-no- Altruism: cooperation Displaying a behavior that benefits another and individual at a cost to oneself. cooperation- Sociality/social behavior: no-sociality Living in a group/behavior in interactions with conspecifics I define ‘sociality’ as living with other individuals of the same species at least semi-permanently. Why individuals do not sacrifice themselves The evolutionary mystery for the good of the group How can altruism evolve? • If the recipient of the cooperative/altruistic act benefits, it is going to leave more offspring . • The actor however is not going to leave more offspring, or even fewer offspring – fewer altruists in the next generation . If such behavior is heritable, and it goes on over many generations, it will ultimately die out. 1 The evolutionary mystery Evolution of altruism Altruism: 5 possible Group selection explanations The Price equation : shows how variance partitioned among individuals and groups leads to selection • Group selection
    [Show full text]
  • Psychology of Intergroup Conflict 1 RUNNING HEAD
    Psychology of Intergroup Conflict 1 RUNNING HEAD: Psychology of Intergroup Conflict Evolution and the Psychology of Intergroup Conflict: The Male Warrior Hypothesis Melissa M. McDonald, Carlos David Navarrete, and Mark Van Vugt CONTRIBUTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE OF PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS ON “THE BIOLOGY OF CULTURAL CONFLICT” GUEST-EDITORS GREGORY BERNS AND SCOTT ATRAN Date Revision: 13 June 2011 Author Note Melissa M. McDonald and Carlos David Navarrete, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University. Mark Van Vugt, VU University of Amsterdam, Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, and University of Oxford, Institute for Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Melissa M. McDonald, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48840, E-mail: [email protected]. Psychology of Intergroup Conflict 2 Abstract The social science literature contains numerous examples of human tribalism and parochialism -- the tendency to categorize individuals on the basis of their group membership, and treat ingroup members benevolently and outgroup members malevolently. We hypothesize that this tribal inclination is an adaptive response to the threat of coalitional aggression and intergroup violence perpetrated by “warrior males” in both ancestral and modern human environments. Here we describe how male coalitional aggression could have affected the social psychologies of men and women differently and present preliminary evidence from experimental social
    [Show full text]
  • Warfare in an Evolutionary Perspective
    Received: 26 November 2018 Revised: 7 May 2019 Accepted: 18 September 2019 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21806 REVIEW ARTICLE Warfare in an evolutionary perspective Bonaventura Majolo School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Sarah Swift Building, Lincoln, UK Abstract The importance of warfare for human evolution is hotly debated in anthropology. Correspondence Bonaventura Majolo, School of Psychology, Some authors hypothesize that warfare emerged at least 200,000–100,000 years BP, University of Lincoln, Sarah Swift Building, was frequent, and significantly shaped human social evolution. Other authors claim Brayford Wharf East, Lincoln LN5 7AT, UK. Email: [email protected] that warfare is a recent phenomenon, linked to the emergence of agriculture, and mostly explained by cultural rather than evolutionary forces. Here I highlight and crit- ically evaluate six controversial points on the evolutionary bases of warfare. I argue that cultural and evolutionary explanations on the emergence of warfare are not alternative but analyze biological diversity at two distinct levels. An evolved propen- sity to act aggressively toward outgroup individuals may emerge irrespective of whether warfare appeared early/late during human evolution. Finally, I argue that lethal violence and aggression toward outgroup individuals are two linked but distinct phenomena, and that war and peace are complementary and should not always be treated as two mutually exclusive behavioral responses. KEYWORDS aggression, competition, conflict, cooperation, peace, social evolution, violence, war 1 | INTRODUCTION and others on the importance of organized/cooperative actions among members of one social group against members of the opposing The question of whether humans are innately peaceful or aggressive group.5 Clearly, how we define warfare affects how deep we can go has fascinated scientists and philosophers for centuries.1,2 Wars, eth- back in time in human evolution to investigate its emergence and evo- nic or religious contests, and intra-group or intra-family violence are lutionary bases.
    [Show full text]
  • Trustworthiness and Competitive Altruism Can Also Solve the ''Tragedy
    Evolution and Human Behavior 25 (2004) 209–220 Trustworthiness and competitive altruism can also solve the ‘‘tragedy of the commons’’$ Pat Barclay* Department of Psychology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1 Received 4 November 2003; accepted 19 April 2004 Abstract The benefits of a good reputation can help explain why some individuals are willing to be altruistic in situations where they will not receive direct benefits. Recent experiments on indirect reciprocity have shown that when people stand to benefit from having a good reputation, they are more altruistic towards groups and charities. However, it is unknown whether indirect reciprocity is the only thing that can cause such an effect. Individuals may be altruistic because it will make them more trustworthy. In this study, I show that participants in a cooperative group game contribute more to their group when they expect to play a dyadic trust game afterwards, and that participants do tend to trust altruistic individuals more than nonaltruistic individuals. I also included a condition where participants had to choose only one person to trust (instead of being able to trust all players) in the dyadic trust game that followed the cooperative group game, and contributions towards the group were maintained best in this condition. This provides some evidence that competition for scarce reputational benefits can help maintain cooperative behaviour because of competitive altruism. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Evolution; Competitive altruism; Game theory; Trust; Public goods 1. Introduction Altruism towards unrelated individuals has puzzled evolutionary biologists for decades, and several theories provide possible explanations for its existence.
    [Show full text]