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Comparative evolutionary perspectives on violence

Newton-Fisher, Nicholas E. and Emery Thompson, Melissa (2012) Comparative evolutionary perspectives on violence. In: Shackleford, Todd K. and Weekes-Shackelford, Viviana A., eds. The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Violence, Homicide, and War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973840-3. (doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199738403.013.0003) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:27839)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
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Abstract

Perhaps more than for any other human behavior, the evolutionary heritage of violence has been the subject of vigorous debate: whether shared patterns of intra-specific aggression between humans and other species doom us to a bloody existence. This chapter reviews intra-specific aggression and violence among mammalian species, focusing on primates. It highlights three themes: aggression is a part of everyday life for most social animals; the vast majority of conflicts in animal societies are of low intensity; there are extraordinary examples within the broad spectrum of aggressive behaviors seen in nonhumans that conform to even the most anthropocentric definitions of violence. To illustrate the latter, the chapter reviews violence in chimpanzees, the extant species most closely related to humans and which, next to humans, exhibits the most spectacularly gruesome and varied aggressive repertoire in mammals.

Item Type: Book section
DOI/Identification number: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199738403.013.0003
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Q Science > QL Zoology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Nicholas Newton-Fisher
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 10:39 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Mar 2023 11:32 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/27839 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Newton-Fisher, Nicholas E..

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7657-2641
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