Reconciliation and Peace‐Making: Insights from Studies on Nonhuman Animals
Title
Reconciliation and Peace‐Making: Insights from Studies on Nonhuman Animals
Author
Koski, Sonja E.
Research Area
Class, Status and Power
Topic
Violence, Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Abstract
Conflict resolution is the part and parcel of living in groups. In social circumstances competition over limited resources is inevitable. For individuals to benefit from group living, the costs should not disrupt social cohesion or relationships. Animals use many ways to avoid conflicts and to mitigate their damage. Post‐conflict reconciliation is an effective way to reduce emotional stress after aggression and to repair the damaged relationship between the former opponents. We now know that reconciliation is common in social species with individualized relationships. The necessity to reconcile is higher when individuals fight with someone who provides them with valuable benefits. Also, general benevolence between individuals reduces the risk to reconcile, increasing thus its likelihood. There are also preventive mechanisms to avoid costly conflicts, and ways to prevent its escalation once started. In many species, bystanders interact with conflict participants when aggression is over, often with affinitive behavior. Such ‘bystander affiliation” serves many functions, some of which may be cognitively demanding and resemble human consolation or mediating. However, we still know little of the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of animal conflict resolution. Understanding the mechanisms of behavior is the next step in animal conflict resolution research. It will help illuminate the mysterious minds of social animals and, ultimately, the evolutionary history of human peacekeeping.