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

Tue Apr 12 01:29:18 UTC 2011

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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