Theoretical Considerations on Conflict and Aggression

34 giorkqvisfpanzees living in the wild, reported warlike conflicts berween groups of chinpanzees,including sysremadc ambush, ending in killings of members of the rival grtup.warfare is, according ro rhe sratemenr, a peculiar hun'ran phenomeno.t that do.snoc occur in other animals. The fact that warfare is frequenr among humans, thestatement suggesrs, indicares that war is a product of human culture: Language,tools, and rechnology have made warfare possible. varfare is, however, nor inevitable;rhere are cultures that have nor engaged in warfare, whereas orher have hadwars fiequenrly. Further, there are cultures which have engaged in warfare frequentlyduring certain periods, although they have been living in peace wirh rheirneighbors at orher times (The seville staremenc on Molence, r986ii989).People used to jusrifo slavery and sexist domination by claiming rhat they werebiological and inevitable. These claims were found ro be unrrue, slavery was ended,and the world communicy is working ro srop racial and sexisr dominarion. In chesame fashion, the signarories of rhe seville staremenr suggesc, rhe world is nowfooling irself by believing thar war and violence cannot be ended because rheyconsdture a parr ofour biological makeup.The seville Statemenr was endorsed by a number of nongovernmental organrzations,among them Unired Narions'Educational, sciendfic, and cultural organization(UNESCo). An impressive number of scientific organizarions also haveendorsed the statement, among them, the American Psychological Associarion(APA)' the American Anthropological Association (AAA), and rhe Inrernationalsociery for Research on Aggression (lsRA). The iniriarive ro drafr rhe sevilleStatenrent was, in fact, made by individual ISRA menrbers.The validiry of the seville srateme'r has noc gone unquestioned, and, witnrnISRA, there were debaces about whether the sociery should endorse the sratemenror not.\Uhen the council of Representarives of the ApA vored to endorse rhe Sevillestatement in 1987, the Board of scienrific Affairs emphasized that, in their opinion,it is not a quesrion of a scienrific sraremenr on the issue of specific inheriredbehavioral traits. Rather, it is a social sraremenr designed ro eliminare unfoundedstereorypic thinking on the inevirabiliry of war.coNcLUstoNsIn summary aggression is nor an innate drive (or instinct) per se, funcrioning inaccordance with the reservoir model, like drives to satisfii hunger, rhirsr, and ie*.Throughout human evolutionary history incerpersonal "ggr.rrio., may have had,however, a facilitating and mediating role in the fulfrllmeniof orher drives, whetherthese are innate or learned, such as territorial and hierarchical drives, and strugglesfor getting access ro mating partners. Aggressive behavior has cerrainly playJanevolutionary role for survival, especially when resources have been scarce. Althoughscripts of aggressive behavior are learned, n6s Innsgs-nobody knows how ro fighrwithout training or modeling-it may be argued thar rhe abllicy ro learn aggressionhas been useful for survival, and narural selection for rhe ability to get angry whenvital interests are threa[ened may have occurred.