The Evolution of Human Violence and Aggression: The Contribution of Peace Ethology

Abstract This chapter presents a peace ethology perspective on the evolution of violence and aggression. Peace ethology is a comparative discipline that focuses on the proximate causation, development, function, and evolution of aggressive and peaceful behavior in humans and other animals. The chapter discusses the distinction between violence and aggression and presents operational definitions of both. Peace ethology distinguishes between species‐typical and species‐atypical aggression and examples are given to illustrate this distinction. The chapter concludes with specific questions for future research on violence and aggression using the peace ethology method.