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Humans: Between-Group Conflicts

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Intergroup Conflict; Intergroup Killing; Between-group Killing; Warfare; War; Feuding

Definition

Conflict among human groups or populations, usually of different cultural backgrounds, involves violent interactions. The aggression usually leads to death of part of group members of both sides and to advantages (material or social) to surviving victors.

Introduction

The central aim of evolutionary approaches to the study of intergroup violence is to examine whether between-group violent conflicts and killings are in any way adaptive, and to investigate their evolutionary history. Lethal intergroup conflict among humans during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene is still a controversial subject, with little agreement on its extent (Bowles 2009). It is important to turn to prestate societies, as these are thought to typify the kinds of aggregations that humans belonged to for the great majority of human history. Their study facilitates our understanding of the contexts from...

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References

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Correspondence to Heitor B. F. Fernandes .

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Fernandes, H.B.F., Zerbe, J., Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M., Figueredo, A.J. (2018). Humans: Between-Group Conflicts. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_619-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_619-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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