When men go to war, blame their sex drive: Males evolved to be ‘aggressive to outsiders’

By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:31 PM on 23rd January 2012

From football thugs clashing on the terraces to soldiers killing each other on the front line, most conflict can be blamed on the male sex drive, a study suggests.

The review of psychological research concludes that men evolved to be aggressive towards ‘outsiders’, a tendency at the root of inter-tribal violence.

It emerged through natural selection as a result of competition for mates, territory and status, and is seen in conflicts between nations as well as clashes involving rival gangs, football fans or religious groups, say the researchers.

Trouble: Male sex drive is at the root of most conflict in the world including football violence, scientists have claimed

Trouble: Male sex drive is at the root of most conflict in the world including football violence, scientists have claimed

Reasons for war: Large-scale conflicts between nations is also to blame on the male sex drive, a new study has claimed

Reasons for war: The male sex drive is also behind large-scale conflicts, researchers say

In contrast, they add, women evolved
to resolve conflicts peacefully. They are said to have been programmed
by natural selection to ‘tend and befriend’ to protect their children.

Professor Mark van Vugt, of Oxford
University’s Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, said:
‘A solution to conflict . . . remains elusive.

Better behaved: Researchers say natural selection has programmed women to 'tend and befriend' to protect their offspring

Better behaved: Researchers say natural selection has programmed women to ‘tend and befriend’ to protect their offspring

‘One reason might be the
difficulty we have in changing our mindset, which has evolved over
thousands of years.’

The findings, which support the ‘male
warrior hypothesis’, are published in the journal Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B.

The psychologists claim that in all cultures and throughout history, men have sought to get their way by initiating violence.

They prefer group-based hierarchies and are identified more strongly with their own groups than women.

At a basic level, such ‘tribal’
aggression helped men in a group to obtain more females, increasing
their chances of reproduction.

‘We see similar behaviour in
chimpanzees,’ said Prof van Vugt. ‘For example, the males continuously
monitor the borders of their territory.

‘If a female from another group comes
along, she may be persuaded to emigrate to his group. When a male
strays too far, however, he is likely to be brutally beaten and possibly
killed.’

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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The comments below have not been moderated.

There really is an anti-male agenda, isn’t there ! And we wonder why so many young men are going off the rails. It’s almost sick, how this continual denigration is allowed, in what is supposed to be an equal society. Oh no, I remember, equality only works one way. i.e to the advantage of females.

What a load of tosh ! There have been many female warriors, in the past ! It is just that today we tend not to place females in harms way, by and large. Having said that, I would not like to go against my sister, how is a PCSO, when she is in full riot gear !

Modern Warfare is about stealing each others natural resources it has nothing to do with being tribal – Lancelot Link, Chimp Spy, 23/1/2012 15:48 On the contrary, ‘stealing EACH others natural resources’ what could be more tribal?

“This means that the solution to all the world’s ills are that women offer more sex to men, especially to the non-Alpha ones with few resources.” – Samuel, London, 23/1/2012 7:15

Eeew, no thanks! Why does the responsibility always seem to fall on women? Why should we have to give sex to low-quality men, just to keep them quiescent? Far better to just put librium in lager — that would closely target the sort of chimp-men we’re talking about.

Modern Warfare is about stealing each others natural resources it has nothing to do with being tribal

“How is men’s behavior towards each other affected by women’s choices about men? What drives women’s choices of men?- Frank Watson, Indianapolis, IN USA, 23/1/2012 12:18”——————————–whatever the fashion is at the time. women are followers.

This means that the solution to all the world’s ills are that women offer more sex to men, especially to the non-Alpha ones with few resources.

For all those that say war is all the fault of religion. In all unsophisticated societies the young men will compete to inpress the women, this will often lead to small scale violence between tribes and clans, unfortunately power hungry leaders, would be kings and politicians will exploite those natural base instincts for their own benefit and conflict and land grabs get bigger and bigger. those leaders will often claim to have the ear of God to give themselves a ‘divine right to rule’ and when they win battles it is ‘proof’ that God is on their side ! Also it is not “violent men” that have given us electricity, medicines, etc, it is the peacefull, bookish, nerdy ones. not all men are a slave to their base instincts neither are all women, thank God !

It’s a scientific fact that, at a certain time of the month, women are by far the most effective desert soldiers. This is because they can retain water for up to seven days and they fight like wild animals.

What a load of old rubbish, these researchers aint seen the thuggy women in my town then lol.

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