The Evolution of Human Aggression: Lessons for Today's Conflicts

Following the Second World War, scientists were naturally fascinated with the aggressive "instinct" in humans and animals. In the 1970s, evolutionary biology added the view of animal social life as an arena of competition. At about the same time, however, primatologists began to emphasize long-term social relationships. The discovery of reconciliation behavior came out of this tradition, confirming the impression that societies constitute a balancing act between cooperation and competition. Reconciliation defined as a friendly reunion between former opponents has since been confirmed in many different species, in both captivity and the field, both experimentally and observationally. Chimpanzees, for instance, kiss and embrace after a fight. Reconciliation has also been demonstrated in non-primates, such as dogs and dolphins. This behavior truly serves what its name suggests, i.e. to repair social relationships. The dominant idea (known as the Valuable Relationship Hypothesis) is that reconciliation will occur whenever parties stand much to lose if their relationship deteriorates. This means that peacemaking depends on overlapping interests, a situation common within but rare between primate groups. In our own species, however, interdependencies between groups or nations are not unusual, and in fact increasing, making for applicability of these models to international relations.