[humanser] Sex and Violence: Is Sex at the Psychological RootofWar?

Tue Apr 12 01:36:45 UTC 2011

Hi JD,

Thank you. I'm glad you find them interesting.  I often get them from other 
counseling related lists.

Mary Ann Robinson
LMSW, ACSW, CAADC
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JD TOWNSEND" <43210 at Bellsouth.net>
To: "Human Services Mailing List" <humanser at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 9:29 PM
Subject: Re: [humanser] Sex and Violence: Is Sex at the Psychological 
RootofWar?

>
>
> Hi Mary Ann:
>
> You find the most interesting and, sometimes, provocative articles.  Thank 
> you for sharing them.
>
> I found the "gray matter" research especially interesting.  But, I enjoyed 
> the truth in the Social Security story.  The research about sex and 
> violence was not much of a surprise -- war is not an answer to many 
> problems, but it seems the thrust of much of our global intervention 
> strategy;  how many of us have taken a course in peace studies?  I tell 
> kids not to punch each other at the school yard, then watch the government 
> punch another nation in the eye.
>
>
>
> JD Townsend, LCSW
> Daytona Beach, Florida, Earth, Sol System
> Helping the light dependent to see.
>
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: Mary Ann Robinson
>  To: Human Services Mailing List
>  Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 7:40 PM
>  Subject: [humanser] Sex and Violence: Is Sex at the Psychological Root 
> ofWar?
>
>
>        Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune Magazine March 30, 2011
>    Guys: What do you feel when you look at a photo of an
>  attractive woman? Excited? Intrigued? How about warlike?
>    Such a response may seem strange or even offensive.  But newly
>  published research suggests it is far from uncommon -- and it may
>  help explain the deep psychological roots of warfare.
>    With yet another war in full swing, we once again face the
>  fundamental question of why groups of humans settle their
>  differences through organized violence.  A wide range of
>  motivations have been offered over the years: In a 2002 book,
>  Chris Hedges compellingly argued that war is both an addiction
>  and a way of engaging in the sort of heroic struggle that gives
>  our lives meaning.
>    Evolutionary psychologists, on the other hand, see war as an
>  extension of mating-related male aggression.  They argue men
>  compete for status and resources in an attempt to attract women
>  and produce offspring, thereby passing on their genes to another
>  generation.  This competition takes many forms, including violent
>  aggression against other males -- an impulse frowned upon by
>  modern society but one that can be channeled into acceptability
>  when one joins the military.
>    It's an interesting and well-thought-out theory, but there's
>  not a lot of direct evidence to back it up.  That's what makes
>  "The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships," a paper just published
>  in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, so
>  intriguing.
>    A team of Hong Kong-based researchers led by psychologist Lei
>  Chang of Chinese University conducted four experiments that
>  suggest a link between the motivation to mate and a man's
>  interest in, or support for, war.
>    The first featured 111 students (60 men) at a college in China.
>  Each was shown 20 full-body color photographs of members of the
>  opposite sex.  Half viewed images of people who had been rated
>  attractive; the other half saw pictures of people classified as
>  unattractive.
>    Afterward, "participants responded to 39 questions about having
>  wars or trade conflicts with three foreign countries that have
>  had hostile relationships with China in recent history," the
>  researchers write.  Twenty-one of the questions "tapped the
>  willingness to go to war with the hostile country," they noted,
>  while 18 addressed "peaceful solutions to trade conflicts."
>    The results duplicated those of a pilot study: Male
>  participants answering the war-related questions "showed more
>  militant attitudes" if they had viewed the photos of attractive
>  women.  This effect was absent in answers to the trade-related
>  questions, nor was it found among women for either set of
>  questions.
>    In another experiment, 23 young heterosexual males viewed one
>  of two sets of 16 photos.  One featured images of Chinese
>  national flags; the other focused on female legs.  They then
>  performed a computer test to see how quickly they could respond
>  to common, two-character Chinese words.  Half of the words
>  related to war, while the others related to farms.
>    If they were motivated by nationalism or patriotism, the young
>  men would have presumably responded to the war words more rapidly
>  after having viewed the flag.
>    But in fact, the researchers write, they "responded faster to
>  war words when primed by female legs." In contrast, the rate at
>  which participants processed farm-related words did not vary
>  depending upon which photos were seen.  This result was repeated
>  in a follow-up experiment using a slightly different design.
>    Why would men with mating on their minds be more receptive to
>  the idea of war? Chang and his colleagues suggest there is a
>  "mating-warring association" deep in the male brain, due to the
>  fact successful warriors have traditionally enjoyed greater
>  access to women.
>    This instinctual force propels men "to engage in organized
>  lethal aggression by co-opting other human adaptations, including
>  our unique cognitive and social mind," they write.  To put it
>  more simply, our rational brains lose the internal battle to our
>  instinctual selves.
>    If peacocks impress potential mates with colorful feathers, the
>  researchers write, perhaps warriors attract women with their
>  ribbons, badges and fancy dress uniforms.  And men's "swords and
>  missiles" may be our answer to a stag's horns: weapons that
>  showcase one's virility.
>    The researchers concede war is a collective enterprise that
>  cannot be explained entirely by individual motivates.  And it's
>  worth noting this theory doesn't explain why women join the
>  military (admittedly in relatively small numbers).
>    Furthermore, while there's no reason to believe their results
>  are culturally driven, it would surely be interesting to try to
>  duplicate them in the U.S.  or Europe.
>    Such caveats aside, their work provides further evidence that
>  the impulse to fight may go deeper than the desire to defend
>  one's nation, religion or tribe.
>    If their thesis is correct, the 1960's slogan "Make love, not
>  war" may have to be revised.  Love -- at least the sexual variety
>  -- may have more in common with war than anyone imagined.
>    Tom Jacobs is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years
>  experience at daily newspapers.  He has served as a staff writer
>  for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Santa Barbara News-Press.
>  His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago
>  Tribune and Ventura County Star.
>    B plus Alterationet Mobile Edition
>
>
>
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