Page 307 - The Social Animal

Human Aggression 289

States. No one can doubt that the bloodshed in the state prison at At-
tica, New York, has led to increased attempts at prison reform. Are
such outcomes worth the dreadful price in human lives? I cannot an-
swer that question. But, as a social psychologist, what I can say (again
and again) is that violence almost never ends simply with a rectifica-
tion of the conditions that brought it about.Violence breeds violence,
not only in the simple sense of the victim striking back against his or
her enemy, but also in the infinitely more complex and insidious sense
of the attackers seeking to justify their violence by exaggerating the
evil they see in their enemies and thereby increasing the probability
that they will attack again (and again, and again).
There will never be a war to end all wars or a riot to end all in-
justice—quite the contrary: Bellicose behaviors strengthen bellicose
attitudes, which increase the probability of bellicose behaviors. We
must search for alternative solutions. A less aggressive form of instru-
mental behavior might serve to redress social ills without producing
an irreconcilable cycle of conflict. Consider Gandhi’s success against
the British in India during the 1930s. Strikes, boycotts, and other
forms of civil disobedience eventually led to the end of British rule
without fostering a rapid escalation of hatred between the citizens of
the two countries. Such nonviolent strategies as sit-ins and boycotts
also have been used effectively by Martin Luther King, Cesar
Chavez, and others to awaken our own nation to real grievances. Ac-
cordingly, I would echo Loren Eiseley’s call for a gentler people but,
in addition, I would call for a people more tolerant of differences be-
tween one another—but not a people tolerant of injustice: a people
who will love and trust one another but who will yell, scream, strike,
boycott, march, sit in (and even vote!) to eliminate injustice and cru-
elty. Again, as we have seen in countless experiments, violence can-
not be turned on and off like a faucet. Research has shown over and
over again that the only solution is to find ways of reducing violence
as we continue to try to reduce the injustice that produces the frus-
trations that frequently erupt in violent aggression.

Toward the Reduction of Violence

So far, we have focused our discussion primarily on factors that
serve to increase aggressive behavior. If we believe, however, that
reducing our propensity toward aggression is a worthwhile goal,