Human Aggression; Is It In The Genes? Honoring Father Theodore Hesburgh, President Emeritus University of Notre Dame James J. McKenna PhD Edmund P. Joyce.

Human Aggression; Is It In The Genes?

Honoring Father Theodore Hesburgh, President

EmeritusUniversity of Notre Dame

James J. McKenna PhD Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Chair in Anthropology

Director, Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory

Ethologist Konrad Lorenz wrote about human

aggression this way :

“An unprejudiced observer from another planet looking upon man as he is today, in his hand the atom bomb,

a product of his intelligence, in his heart the aggressive drive inherited from his anthropoid ancestors which their same intelligence cannot

control, would not predict long life for the species.” (From: On Aggression(1969)

Human Aggression: Bio-Cultural Perspectives (is it in the genes?)

“The sordid history of mankind attests well to the fantastic

plurality of stimuli that can be cooked up to elicit aggression. But

how natural is it”? Ralph Holloway (1968)

Does an answer to this question matter?

YES! because of the danger of self-fulfilling prophecies

“..the behavior of men is not independent of the theories of

human behavior that men adopt”

Leon Eisenberg “The Nature of Human Nature” pg 165 (1972)

Recall that…..

Also,

•“Pessimism about man serves to maintain the status quo”.

• Leon Eisenberg pg. 167 1997 “The Nature of Human Nature”

is it in the genes? or environment? both/

neither?

recall…for “complex” organisms..like humans, genes produce potentiality--not certainty…of expression;

aggression adaptive? some? measured?…whether self-generated (by genes) or in response to experience, a rat fighting another rat on an electrified metal grill--to eliminate the pain..is adaptive, right?

What is Aggression?..we surely know it when we see it

“An animal acts aggressively when it inflicts, attempts to inflict, or threatens to inflict

damage on another animal.The act is usually accompanied by recognizable behavioral symptoms and recognizable physiological

changes.”

Carthy and Ebling 1964

or..do we always know it when we see it ?

Perhaps amongst humans, aggression is not so easily defined, nor so immediately obvious..?

–Socio-economic and political factors can be as injurious to physical and psycho-social health as violence can be to limbs and organs of the body

Consider the changes in levels of human lethality--made possible by high tech culture.. Weapons that

kill…massively

the cultural evolution of “cides”…..from suicide….tohomicide…taking of another’s life, to…genocide….eliminating an entire group of people, to…ecocide…killing of an ecosystem…toomnicide…killing of everything or anything (D.Barash…Sociobiology and Behavior)

About HUMAN Aggression? What does Mel Gibson’s “Brave

Heart”..teach us…?

A rousing speech? exposure of genitals ..to an enemy ? What ? A war is scripted..follows some rules…?

has social meaning ---full of symbols..and ritual as the motivating factors…

dress up for war? flags? pageantry? WHAT? fighting for food, protection or..an idea or

value (Scotland and freedom);? technologically-based? Always fatal?

Anthropology: a holistic understanding

(four lines of evidence):

abuse and

neglect

Cross-cultural

(*definitions

are value driven)

Cross-species

Evolutionary

Developmental (socialization)

origins?

functons?

selective conditions?

Aggressionhuman

heterogeneity of aggressionit is not a coherent or uniform behavior and it has many causes

Intra-specific Aggression vs. Inter-specific Aggression

within species- within group competition for food , resources, mates, allies, status

protective responses

defensive of territory

Predatory behavior

Protection from predators; defense of young aggression

associated with niche partitioning

Sociobiological View of Aggression?

D.Barash

“Rather than consider human beings to be either innately aggressive or innately non-aggressive,a socio-biological

view suggests that we have been selected to behave aggressively under some conditions and non-aggressively under others, depending upon the consequences of such aggressiveness or non-agressiveness for our evolutionary success…Aggressive behavior that is adaptive behavior under one condition may be mal adaptive under others;

Animal Aggression vs..human aggression controlled by?

Dominance or social hierarchies “….the baboon’s policeman is his own biology”?

Social institutions…social values.. i.e.ethical judgments enforced by laws, police, jails, prisons, courts…a uniquely human response…

humans substitute cultural rules for biological imperatives…

setting up the issue….a little history

Any evidence?For Evolutionary Antecedents?

Primate wide-trends of affiliation and social cooperation (Sussman, Garber and Cheverud)

A major basis of maternal-infant attachment is

“contact-comfort” (rather than satiation)…Harry Harlow“Attachmen

t”:

Unfolding, discriminating bond between parent and infant; genetically-based…..

Immediate survival and protection from predators is main outcome;

Maternal behavior among primates extends throughout an extremely long infant and juvenile period, with prolonged periods of physical contact.

Orang-Utan

repair the damage caused by conflict? or repair the damage caused by conflict? or protecting cooperation and affiliative protecting cooperation and affiliative relationships?relationships?

Cooperation or Aggression in Human Evolution? It all began

3-4 million years ago…The Hominine Niche

Emergence of empathy..mind reading..Food sharing/bipedalism, infant vulnerability…

Tool use: dependence, knowledge, skills, communication skills (verbal,non verbal)

Daddy transport and care (Gettler 2009; omnivory, reduced gut mass

Lack of clear material record for substantial division of labor until

recently! (loss of estrous,too) Importance of social knowedge;

What is unique (and scary) about human

aggression…?

that the technology of violence makes it so easy to be so massively lethal--and deadly, and removed physically and psychologically from the violent act--from the appeasement and subordination of the victim…

capacity to “hate” and de-humanize the enemy--without knowing who the enemy actually is, personally

and to objectify and to make abstractions out of the enemy…which makes violence easy and justified.

Process of Enemy Formation: It’s Universal

First, de-humanize by depicting them graphically/artistically as sub-human, without human emotions an sensitivities like insects, snakes, varmin

depict as vermin, vile, dangerous and threatening.. Use familiar, revered symbols and icons to depict their

potential for inhumane acts.. Unite population over perceived threat--the

importance of acting together (socially marks own cultural and ethnic group)

Learn to think of the enemy as an abstraction, not persons..

Where Aggression Comes From: Developmental

Factors

Socio-cultural values intrinsic to the home and local culture?

–Semai vs. Yanomamo peoples;» familial-parental reinforcement-

socialization..sex role modeling etc etc.;– Infant-child relational experiences (affection,

love, acquiring and being given self-worth, breast feeding, affectionate contact (high and low contact..emergence of empathy, attunement, conscience)

Variable Simple Hunter-Gatherers Complex Hunter-GatherersPrimary food Terrestrial game Marine resources or plants

Food storage Very rare Typical

Mobility Nomadic or Semi-nomadic Settled or mostly settled

Population Low population densities Higher population densities

Political system “Egalitarian” Hierarchical with classes

based on wealth or heredity

Social structure Absence of social segments Lineages in some cases

Slavery Absent Frequent

Competition Discouraged Encouraged

Warfare Rare Variable/Common

From D. Fry, (35 societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample )

Specific Developmental Ideas About Origins

“Frustration-aggression hypothesis (continuous thwarting of one’s goals leads to violence, Dollard et.al;

family abuse and neglect including sexual and physical violence;

male sexual jealousy and envy; learn to fight by fighting, learn to win by

winning (rat studies); fighting in response to pain..

Child abuse is passed from one generation to another..learned!!

“Human beings are unique among primates, however, in that we experience prolonged material ownership. This custom creates long lasting grudges and persistent personal violence.” (Barash 1987)

Material envy ?

Humans are alone in our will, desire and capability to force another culture to convert to a different practice…religious or political?

the negative side of moral beliefs and ideologies

Proximate Causes/Motivations

Likewise Are Heterogeneous

Pain-induced..(tumor on amygdala) Parental (protective) aggression Kin-based aggression Hypoglycemic responses Hunger-induced, chemical imbalance

There appears no singular motivation, hence, no singular gene

underlying each kind of aggressive act

What does it mean to say that aggression is

actually based on genes…

how and why can aggression actually …evolve

Answer: it must increase the reproductive success of the

actor…

An Evolutionary Point of View:

Lorenz

Proposes an independent “appetitive” drive--to be aggressive i.e. “ the spontaneity of aggression hypothesis..”;

argues for the inherent adaptive value of an “aggressive drive” ...defend territory, protect resources, increase access to mates (status)..

underlies human cultural life..can be re-directed by international sports events

Lorenz and the “Hydraulic Model of Aggression”

An unlearned need to release energy in the form of aggression, in some form, expressed either directly, or through vicarious participation in ceremonies and/or sport rituals…

The longer the interval between the “consumatory aggressive act” .. the lower the stimuli threshold becomes needed to set off the behavior...and the more likely will the person actively seek out the releasing stimuli to restore balance i.e. the hydraulic aspect…

a universal independent motivation

for aggression ?

about which Robert Hinde writes:

“….ethologists need not fabricate a general model of ‘drive’, but rather what is needed is to document individual cases and variability as to how and under what circumstances

different types of aggression occur.”

Ethologists such as Lorenz, Tinbergen, Eibl-

Eibesfeldt...

studied fighting fish, gamecocks, bull fights, cichlids, geese, ducks….not primates;

adopted a mechanistic-gene based view of aggression..less mutable and organized around reproductive fitness models…drives/strategies (primary and otherwise)

Contemporary Views of Aggression

more holistic and transactional in theory and explanation…both proximate and ultimate explanations---

acknowledges underlying physiology, hormonal status (prolactins, androgens, testosterone, estrogens, neuro-transmitters (seratonin) affect excitability and mood in general…without defining what behavior will be expressed..

The role of experience and socialization..enemy formation models

role of the cortex (discriminating-evaluating)

part of brain ?

does the biology of aggression accommodate ? or cause ? the

aggression?

Does Affection and Touch In Infancy Reduce Adult

Aggression?

Dr. James H. Prescott (developmental neuropsychologist)

–Principle cause of human violence stems from a lack of bodily pleasure

– “I am convinced that various abnormal social and emotional behaviors resulting from what psychologists call “maternal deprivation”, that is, a lack of tender, loving care, are caused by a unique type of sensory deprivation, somato-sensory deprivation…” (sensations of touch and body movement, especially)

Let’s examine…anthropologically

western infant care practices in relationship to human infant

needs and conditions..is there a mismatch ? Do we promote

empathy..through closeness…

Contemporary Views of Aggression and Warfare

models recognize huge differences between institutional, state, and nationally-sponsored or sanctioned aggression, from forms of aggression committed by individuals..

explanations of forms of more global human aggression tend to separate these defined nationalistic/political/religious motivations (especially nation/state warfare) avoid biological explanations...

The Good News

Human beings have a tremendous capacity to identify with the ”other”» To transcend sense of danger for

one’s self in the sight of another in peril..to lose one’s self completely and become the other..

» The hero/heroine loses his or herself for the sake of others...

Why Do Such Relatively Tiny Numbers of Aggressive Acts Seem

So Huge and Overwhelming?

Because peacefulness and positive interactions and social cohesiveness are so critically valued universally and important to reproductive success…

Because It is not as important to notice the billions upon billions of daily proactive acts of sacrifice, kindness and positive social behaviors and interactions---it is expected and “normal”..

It is precisely because our evolution including the emergence of cultural life depends on co-operation and social inter-dependence that it is the opposite --aggression--is which threatens co-operation.. is so unacceptable…and why aggression is so salient!

Competition and Rivalry (YES)Hatred and Violence (No)

there is a Lake in Massachusetts.. on the Connecticut border (named by the Mohegans..

Lake Charbunagungamaug.. You fish on your side, I fish on my side, nobody fish in

the middle, no trouble.. David Barash story..(1987)

Another Way To View..”On Aggression”

“We are threatened more by the genetic traits we lack than by those we possess”

“We lack genetically mediated killing inhibitions because natural selection did not have much reason to

endow us with any” Barash (1987)

Love actually is..all aroundLove actually is..all around

Human Aggression; Is It In The Genes?

Honoring Father Theodore Hesburgh, President Emeritus

University of Notre Dame

James J. McKenna PhD Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Endowed Chair in

AnthropologyDirector, Mother-Baby Behavioral

Sleep Laboratory