Understanding Violence

This article is older, but I found it enlightening. Is it time to kiss and make up yet or is renegotiation still continuing?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... g-violence
Understanding Violence
Several studies shed light on where aggression comes from and how it can be controlled
By Kristin Leutwyler | July 31, 2000

But various studies, some probing the evolutionary origins of aggression, and others, our conscious ability to control it, are changing the ways in which researchers regard violence. Indeed, primatologists are now suggesting that aggressive behavior be viewed as a normal means for competing and negotiating within groups, and not as a fundamentally antisocial instinct. Although it is hard to look at violence as anything but an attempt to destroy community, Frans de Waal, the C. H. Candler Professor of Primate Behavior at Emory University, makes a compelling argument for seeing it as an integral part of any social network. Were aggressions truly antisocial acts, he points out, there would be no way to explain the fact that the overwhelming majority of attacks involve people who know one another well.

Primatologists first began to study aggression as a social phenomenon during the 1970s, when a curious incident was recorded at the Arnhem Zoo after a dominant male chimp attacked a female. After a tense period of silence, the entire group began hooting, and during this chorus, two chimps embraced each other and kissed. When researchers reexamined the event, they realized that the two who had kissed were the very same two that had been fighting. Soon they found that most monkeys and apes make dramatic gestures of reconciliation after conflicts.

Additional research since then has shown that monkeys are actually more likely to seek contact with former opponents than with others, which indicates that they do not start a fight to alienate themselves from another individual but rather to renegotiate the terms of an ongoing relationship. And peacemaking, an important part of this negotiation, appears to be in part a learned skill. Of interest, de Waal notes, one of the best predictors of whether schoolchildren make peace is the level of positive contact they have had before a conflict erupts.

Satchmo wrote: Chimps are quite violent. I was watching some Nature show, and it featured another type of ape (not monkey) that is very affectionate with one another. I wish I could remember the name of the animal, but can't.

I didn't realize chimps were so violent on a regular basis.

Bonobos is what you're thinking of.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/ ... 2010-07-23
Frans de Waal on the human primate: Make love, not war
By Frans B. M. de Waal | Jul 23, 2010 11:15 AM

The origin of human aggression and warfare remains hotly debated. Until now, this debate has been dominated by what chimpanzees do and how this compares with our own species. It is little known, however, that we have an exactly equally close primate relative, the bonobo. This species makes Hobbesians very uncomfortable, so they do everything to marginalize it.

The first study to compare bonobos and chimpanzees was carried out at the Hellabrunn Zoo in Munich. German scientists made a list of differences between both species, including the bonobo's sensitivity, peacefulness and obvious sex drive.

I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if we'd known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only later—or not at all. The discussion about human evolution might not revolve as much around violence, warfare and male dominance, but rather around sexuality, empathy, caring and cooperation. What a different intellectual landscape we would occupy!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podca ... e-10-02-02
Bonobo Chimps Stay Childlike
A study in the journal Current Biology finds that bonobo chimps have delayed development of social behavior--which keeps them, well, nice. Karen Hopkin reports
February 2, 2010

The two chimp species are closely related, but when it comes to behavior, there’s little resemblance. While common chimps can be aggressive and incredibly self-serving, bonobos are playful and even prone to sharing, traits that common chimps display mainly when they’re young.

What drives the differences? To find out, scientists observed the apes at all ages. And they found that even as juveniles, common chimps quickly learn to interact preferentially with people they discovered had treats. But bonobos were much more social, approaching experimenters even when they were empty-handed.