War Games: Intergroup Coalitional Play Fighting as a Means of Comparative Coalition Formability Assessment

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences • Vol/Iss. 15(2) • American Psychological Association • Washington, D.C. • Published In • Pages: 91-110 •
By Scalise Sugiyama, Michelle, Mendoza, Marcela, Sugiyama, Lawrence

Abstract

The authors explore coalitional play fighting (in which teams of at least two play against each other to achieve a goal) across hunter-gatherer societies, with the theory that play of this type may be a mechanism for assessing strength and utility for future defense or warfare. When played against other communities, they propose coalitional play fighting can also serve to gauge strength of potential allies or formidability of potential enemies. In order to test their theories, they predict that, despite the large energy cost and risk of sports associated with coalitional play fighting, these types of games will be widespread in hunter-gatherer societies. In addition, they predict that of those exhibiting coalitional play fighting, many will play against other communities. In support of their hypotheses, they find that 54% of hunter-gatherer societies examined exhibit coalitional play fighting, of which 81% play against other communities.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)Researcher's own100 hunter-gatherer societies across 100 clusters

Hypotheses (6)

HypothesisSupported
Coalitional play fighting will be widespread among hunter-gatherer societies.Support claimed
Hunter-gatherer societies with coalitional play fighting will periodically play team contact games against outgroups (will exhibit intergroup coalitional play fighting).Supported
Hunter-gatherer societies with coalitional play fighting will have intergroup gatherings.Supported
Hunter gatherer societies with coalitional play fighting will play sports at intergroup gatherings.Supported
Hunter-gatherer societies with coalitional play fighting will also participate in warfare.Supported
Hunter-gatherer societies with coalitional play fighting will also participate in mock warfare.Support claimed
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: anj.droe