Group displays

Group displays

1. ritualised display between two groups - most often seen at sport events or military processions

2. seem to be based on evolutionary behaviour - if you can encourage an enemy to think you are stronger they are less likely to challenge you

   • each member of the group is more likely to survive + pass on genes
     • if explanation is true, we should see it in human cultures round the world

3. Sport events & xenophobia

   • Wilson - majority of species that have a high level of social organisation display xenophobia
   • fear or strangers provides evolutionary advantage - fear strangers who could attack us or steal resources - humans with xenophobia were more likely to survive + pass on genes
   • Wilson - all human cultures examined, xenophobia is present to some degree supporting the idea that fear of strangers coupled with a group display of aggression to scare strangers off is an evolutionary adaptation
   • fear of strangers can be seen at sporting events where fans use group displays to scare the opposition
   • group displays may have replaced evolutionary tribal displays of aggression
   • if group displays is linked to evolutionary displays of aggression, we would expect the highest level of aggression to be between two groups from the same area
     • two local teams would be competing for territory + status
       • local matches 'derby' do have the highest level of aggression - seen in matches between rangers and celtic in glasgow
   • Schwarz + Barkey - sports teams win more home games may be due to group displays of opposition supporters
   • sports teams also engage in group displays - NZ rugby team - Haka before every game , tribal war dance of Maori peoples from NZ intended to intimidate opposition + in traditional battles each tribe would have their own tribal dance - if you can intimidate the opposition you are more likely to win
   • Sua Peter - samoan rugby war dance was going to be made more aggressive + intimidatory to reflect samoans aggressive war past. may change it to make it as much of a display as NZ haka

4. War displays

   • armies all demonstrate high levels of training and technology
   • displays can be seen more frequently when there is a national threat of some kind - possibility of war starting
   • this type serves two purposes - to reassure home nation they are strong and to warn enemy how strong army is
   • intention enemy will be impressed with display of aggression and either be scared + lose moral or withdraw altogether -saving lives + resources
   • expected those with the most to lose will spend the most money + time on displays of aggression to stop other nations thinking about stealing their resources
   • Divale + Harris - societies who engage in frequent war like behaviour often reward soldiers with access to females - no fighting no mating
   • Palmer + Tilley - male gang members have more female partners than ordinary males - suggests sexual benefit to being part of group display
   • LeBlanc + Register - warfare is not an evolutionary advantage- but a response to dwindling resources + increasing population. as population increases there may be more conflict + more group displays as resources decrease
     • fail to acknowledge in times of limited resources those who survive might be the most aggressive. natural selection would quickly select aggression + aggressive displayed

5. Lynch mobs

   • named after Charles Lynch - US justice of peace
   • takes law into their own hands + kills someone as punishment for real or fictitious crime
   • between 1852 - 1955 there were over 300 lynchings of black people by a white US mob
   • explanation - maintain the balance of power in favour of the mob
   • 1863 - emancipation proclamation - freed all black slaves in US granting them equal status to white people
     • changed balance of power with many whites disliking the new equal status
   • use of violence against blacks to keep them in their place - evolutionary explanation - if a powerful group is threatened in anyway they will use aggression in order to maintain their power
   • Blalock - power threat hyp - as black communities grew in size + status the white communities felt threatened and resorted to lynching in order to keep blacks in their place
   • powerful contribution form dehumanisation - blacks labelled as niggers and thought to be less important
     • whites justified their persecution by saying they were inferior
   • IDA
     • evolutionary theories are hard to prove wrong or test scientifically
     • likely to involve aspects of SLT + deindividuation - too simplistic