GROUP DISPLAYS

GROUP DISPLAYS

1. SPORTS

   • XENOPHOBIA
     • Xenophobia is a fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners. It can be explained in terms of natural selection as people favour the genes in their own group but show intolerance towards outsiders. Wong argues that mechanisms that result in suspicion towards strangers would have favoured natural selection as it would have enabled our ancestors to avoid attack and produce more offspring.
     • Podaliri and Balestri found evidence of xenophobic tendencies in group displays of Italian football crowds. In 1980 xenophobic political organisations led to extreme right wing movements involving racist chants and openly anti Semitic banners.
   • TERRITORIALITY
     • Territoriality is the protective response to an invasion of someone's territory which is common seen in many animal species. The form of aggressive territorial displays can be seen in humans in sports teams prior to a match. Samoa adopted the manu siva tau war chant before playing the rugby world cup; this is to intimidate opponents by appearing aggressive. Aggressive displays would have adaptive for our ancestors as they allow groups to defend valuable resources.
     • Animals and humans display more aggression when they have high testosterone levels. Neave and Wolfson found that football teams that played at home were more likely to win as players had high levels of testosterone before the match and they suggested that this was due to an evolved drive to defend home territory.
   • EVALUATION
     • Foldesi provides evidence support between xenophobia and violent displays in football crowds. He found that racist conduct between extremist supporters led to an increase of violent behaviour in spectators and xenophobic outbursts- gypsies, jews and Russians were the most popular targets.
     • Lewis et al found that crowd support was the most importan factor thatcontributed to a home advantage as fans enjoyed to cheer their team to victory and distract their opponents. However the way in which displays of support have an effect is unclear.
     • Xenophobia has many different real world applications especially in football clubs and has encouraged them to minimise the influence. In 2012 the government donated £200,000 to an anit racism football charity to counter the influence of groups such as the English Defence League.

2. WARFARE

   • in societies where warfare is frequent boys are less likely to be killed compared to girls as they are more useful in battle which results in frequent competition for female mates as adults. Displays of aggressive behaviour and bravery are attractive to females and the absence of these displays reduces the attractiveness of the male.
   • Displays of aggression by warriors can result in their peers respecting them more and strengthen the bond with all the males of the group. As cooperation is vital in the group an individual leaving would therefore result in the individual losing the respect of the others in the group.
   • Anthropologists suggest that the main function of ritual displays is to portray group solidarity. Scars and mutilation represents that an individual is fully committed to the group and loyalty and the individual can benefit from warfare against another group.
   • EVALUATION
     • There is research to support the importance of aggressive displays and the attractiveness of male warriors. Palmer and Tilley found that a male youth gang members have more sexual partners than ordinary young males.
     • Evolutionary explanations for warfare can be gender biased as Adams claimed that women warriors are unheard of in many societies and even those societies where women do fight it is still very rare. Women have considerably less to gain from war and more to lose in terms of reproduction capability.
     • Explanations of displays of aggression fail to explain the extreme levels of cruelty in warfare e.g. why do humans torture their opponents when they have already been defeated? Anthropological evidence suggests that this may be due to deindividuation rather than evolutionary adaptations.