[Rituals of aggression and appeasement: systemic and etiological aspects]

In a view which takes into consideration together systemic concepts, concepts own to the field of communication theories, and ideas of comparative ethology, the author attempts an approach of the mechanisms governing interpersonal regulation of aggressive behaviour. After a brief review of characters of rites, he examines more specifically rites of aggression and of appeasement, currently observed in animal world, and that can be observed too in human species, at a stylized level. In this point of view, he studies not only specific characters of these rites, but their dynamic unrolling into interactional sequences, which can by symmetrical or complementary. He underlines the usefulness of rites in human relationships, especially their regulating value in mastering aggressive behaviour. He calls their therapeutic utilisation, notably in family therapy.