Human Evolution and Male Aggression: Debunking the Myth of Man a ...

Chapter 2

Humans

Harding related the following incident:

While digging in the garden, I hear a shout down the street and look up. Four houses down at an intersection, my neighbor has yelled at a car full of teen-aged boys who are driving too fast past a school. A few moments later, the car comes back, still too fast, and my neighbor yells again. The car stops with a squeal of tires and three youths get out and approach my neighbor swearing and gesturing threateningly. Without thinking, I shoulder my shovel and hurry over. As I pass the house next door, that neighbor grabs his rake in two hands and joins me. A third man from across the street comes holding a hoe. None of us says a word, but when we stand beside the man who has yelled, the kids run back to their car and leave, driving acceptably slowly.

By any measure, four men, three of them armed, facing three teenagers is an aggressive act. But context is everything. My neighbors and I had sprung to the defense not only of our neighbor but also of the kids of the school, none of whom were ours. I have often thought of this trivial incident when studying other primates. Our action was not strictly territorial defense, as is seen in many primates, because it occurred well