Socio-Biological Views of Human Aggression

The Webster's dictionary defines sociobiology as, "The study of the biological determinants of social behavior, based on the theory that such behavior is often genetically transmitted and subject to evolutionary processes." Basically, human behaviors are due to our genetic makeup, rather than it being learned from culture. In supporting that, a revolutionary ethologist, Konrad Lorenz, developed an elaborate biological hypothesis based on his recorded comparisons with human and animal behavior. In 1966, he wrote a book, On Aggression, which outlined that in the long period of human evolution, certain genes were selected that evolved an aggressive instinct in humans.(Scupin p.138) He said that this instinct resulted from natural selection because of inter-group competition and hostility. (p.138)
Sociobioligists believe that human aggressiveness is directly related to the knowledge of ape aggression. Originally, our earlier ancestors were something like an opossum or a bush baby that ate on fruits or large insects by themselves, rather than socially. (Wrangham & Peterson p.130) Our 'grandmothers' and 'grandfathers' all had these grasping hands and large forward-facing eyes. Among these characteristics that were passed down, there was a typical mammalian set of aggressive behavior patterns. (p.131)
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