Peaceful co-existence: the challenges

Peace and Evolutionary Psychology

A cursory glance at the headlines of the 21st Century offers a picture of violence and strife: Molotov cocktails were being thrown in the streets of Cairo and nuclear powers Pakistan and North Korea were showing no signs of progress and stability. A cursory glance through history shows that this state of affairs is not novel. In fact, deviations from violence and strife seem to be quite exceptional when they do occur.

Why is this? How is it possible that a species which is able to photograph events that occurred billions of years ago on the other side of the universe not stop itself from killing and torturing other members of the same species?

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This article focuses on outlining an evolutionary-psychological explanation of some of the causes of our inability to co-exist peacefully on a global scale. Before we begin, however, it is important to point out that this is only one of many causes that go into creating international conflicts. As it does claim to apply to all Homo sapiens, it is implied that it is a universal cause of conflict. This does not mean, however, that it is THE universal cause of conflict. Evolutionary-psychological factors may play a very minimal overall role in all conflict, they may make up a substantial portion of the forces that go into each and every conflict, or this might vary dramatically from situation to situation.

However this comes down, it is important to distinguish the individual causes that went into bringing about specific tensions from those that go into all tensions. For example, evolutionary psychology cannot account for why Israelis and Palestinians are in the particular standoff that they are in today. To understand this, we must look to historical explanations about migration or to cultural explanations which look at Jewish and Islamic mythologies and the significance they place on the area. This situation is unique, and cannot be easily generalized to other historical or contemporary cases.

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection begins with the struggle for existence. Darwin identifies Thomas Malthus’ 1978 “Essay on the Principle of Population” as a significant influence on the development of his theory. There, Malthus argues that populations tend to grow exponentially, while available resources tend to grow at a more linear rate. He took this to imply that eventually, there would be too many people for our resources to sustain.

Darwin used this idea and argued that individuals that possess traits that help them survive better than the others that are competing for the same resources will tend to have more children. They will tend to pass on those traits that helped them survive to their offspring, who will then also be better equipped to survive in the struggle for existence.

In humans, one of the primary traits that helped us survive was the ability to use language and form communities. By sharing our thoughts with each other and establishing shared rituals, we can cooperate to plan events and develop close ties with those living around us. Similar behaviour is found in our evolutionary cousins. What is also found among the great apes is that their communities often compete for the same resources, and tend to engage in planned attacks on surrounding communities in order to secure essentials such as territory or food.

Thus, evolutionary psychology tells us that we have built-in cognitive mechanisms that help us foster group solidarity. It also predicts that we would have similar mechanisms that distinguish our groups from others, which allows our group to compete with others. Social-psychological research repeatedly confirms these predictions.

While this is only a brief sketch, it offers a powerful framework for understanding why global peace is so elusive. Most estimates agree that it is possible for us to feed and provide basic medical care for all of the world’s population, even as it continues to rapidly grow. In the U.S., roughly 20% of the population controls 80% of the wealth, leaving only 20% left for the other 80%. International measures find a similar disparity. A more equitable distribution would leave enough to provide for everyone.

However even if wealth was more evenly distributed, evolutionary psychology would predict that our innate in-group out-group mechanisms would still lead us to demonize people living outside of our community. Better laws and a culture of peace and brotherhood might effectively work to counteract the effects of our evolutionary heritages. But until such time comes, we can expect our minds to do what they were built to do – help others that are included in “us” and attack those that are part of “them.” This is the challenge facing those of us who strive for peaceful co-operation between all groups, all religions, all races. Before we can change it, we must recognise and understand it.