Interpersonal conflicts and third-party mediation in a pastoralist society

IF 3 1区 心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Zachary H. Garfield , Luke Glowacki
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Human societies depend on the ability of their members to coordinate and cooperate with others. Yet, within-group conflict can threaten group stability. This threat is severe among humans due to the scale of our societies and the frequent low levels of relatedness between members. Our ability to resolve inter-individual conflicts is a key aspect of our species' success. Despite the importance of conflict resolution in human sociality, the socio-ecology of how within-group conflicts are resolved in naturalistic settings is underexplored. Using a sample of 160 inter-individual conflicts reported by 81 adults from an agro-pastoralist community in southwest Ethiopia, we identify the primary causes of interpersonal conflict and the features associated with third-party mediation and conflict outcomes. We find that both men and women experience relatively severe inter- and intra-gender conflicts; conflicts between women are more likely to be social in nature, while conflicts between men are more likely to be over resource control. Third-party mediation more often occurs in social conflicts rather than conflicts over material or subsistence resources and in conflicts between clan members and friends. Mediators in conflicts between women tend to be women while mediators for conflicts between men tend to be men. Women, however, are as equally likely as men to help mediate inter-gender conflicts, which suggests an important opportunity for female leadership in this patriarchal society. Although more than 80% of conflicts were resolved, social conflicts are more difficult to resolve than conflicts over resources. Conflict severity, clan membership, and the relationship between those in conflict are associated with severed relationships. These results underscore the importance of third-party mediators and inter-gender interactions in human societies and the importance of socio-economic structures in shaping interpersonal conflicts and their resolution.

牧民社会中的人际冲突和第三方调解
人类社会依赖于其成员与他人协调合作的能力。然而,群体内部的冲突会威胁到群体的稳定。由于我们的社会规模庞大,而且成员之间的亲缘关系往往很低,因此这种威胁在人类中非常严重。我们解决个体间冲突的能力是我们这个物种成功的一个关键方面。尽管解决冲突在人类社会性中非常重要,但在自然环境中如何解决群体内部冲突的社会生态学研究却不足。我们利用埃塞俄比亚西南部一个农牧社区的 81 名成年人报告的 160 个个体间冲突样本,确定了人际冲突的主要原因以及与第三方调解和冲突结果相关的特征。我们发现,男性和女性都经历过相对严重的性别间和性别内冲突;女性之间的冲突更可能是社会性质的,而男性之间的冲突更可能是资源控制问题。第三方调解更多地发生在社会冲突中,而不是物质或生存资源冲突中,也更多地发生在氏族成员和朋友之间的冲突中。妇女之间冲突的调解人往往是妇女,而男子之间冲突的调解人往往是男子。不过,女性和男性一样有可能帮助调解性别间的冲突,这表明在这个父权制社会中,女性领导力是一个重要的机会。尽管超过 80% 的冲突得到了解决,但社会冲突比资源冲突更难解决。冲突的严重程度、氏族成员身份以及冲突双方之间的关系都与关系破裂有关。这些结果凸显了第三方调解人和性别间互动在人类社会中的重要性,以及社会经济结构在影响人际冲突及其解决方面的重要性。
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来源期刊
Evolution and Human Behavior
Evolution and Human Behavior 生物-行为科学
CiteScore
8.30
自引率
9.80%
发文量
62
审稿时长
82 days
期刊介绍: Evolution and Human Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal, presenting research reports and theory in which evolutionary perspectives are brought to bear on the study of human behavior. It is primarily a scientific journal, but submissions from scholars in the humanities are also encouraged. Papers reporting on theoretical and empirical work on other species will be welcome if their relevance to the human animal is apparent.
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