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Coalitional Play Fighting and the Evolution of Coalitional Intergroup Aggression
Michelle Scalise Sugiyama1, Marcela Mendoza2, Frances White2
1Anthropology Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA. mscalise@uoregon.edu.
Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)
|July 1, 2018
Summary
Coalitional play fighting, common in hunter-gatherer societies, utilizes motor skills essential for lethal raiding. This behavior is not a product of agricultural or industrial societies, suggesting innate human motivations for coordinated group action.
Area of Science:
- Human Evolutionary Psychology
- Anthropology
- Behavioral Ecology
Background:
- Dyadic play fighting is common in many species and aids in developing fighting skills.
- Humans uniquely engage in coalitional play fighting, suggesting a potential role in developing skills for group conflict.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence and characteristics of coalitional play fighting in hunter-gatherer societies.
- To determine if this play form incorporates motor patterns used in lethal raiding.
- To ascertain if coalitional play fighting is a universal human behavior or an artifact of specific societal structures.
Main Methods:
- Compiled a list of motor patterns from ethnographic records associated with forager warfare.
- Utilized Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas to identify 100 forager culture clusters.
- Analyzed ethnographic records for descriptions of coalitional play fighting (team-based contact games).
- Coded identified games for the presence of eight key motor patterns used in lethal raiding.
Main Results:
- Coalitional play fighting was documented in 46 out of 100 culture clusters.
- All documented instances involved at least one motor pattern used in lethal raiding.
- A significant majority (39/46) incorporated four or more of the eight predicted motor patterns.
- Evidence suggests coalitional play fighting is widespread across diverse hunter-gatherer groups.
Conclusions:
- Coalitional play fighting is a prevalent behavior in hunter-gatherer cultures globally.
- This type of play actively recruits motor skills relevant to lethal raiding.
- The findings support the hypothesis that coalitional play fighting is an evolved human behavior, not solely a product of recent societal developments.
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