Jun 15 2008
What Comes Naturally
[This is the most frequent post I made at my other blog, "An Almighty Alpha." For more go to http://www.almightyalpha.blogspot.com/.]
Other research has shown that when people display dominant nonverbal behavior, not only do others think they are stronger and more competent, but also that they deserve to hold higher status positions.
- Larissa Tiedens, & Alison Fragile (72)
A recent search of PowerPoint(73) clipart, with the keyword “victory,” resulted in 49 images of human beings or of realistic depictions of human beings (vs. say, a “thumbs-up” smiley face). Forty-five of the images showed a human or small group of humans with arms raised. To complete the image, you might want to envision one man with his arms raised straight above his head, and out of the frame there is another man lying prostrate, a foot in the middle of his back. Body language speaks volumes; it is the primary language of our close primate relatives. Sure, today we edit out the person or persons we or our hero has been victorious over. Please, that would be vulgar. But the non-specific raising of the arms is fully acceptable.
I next searched for “defeat,” to see how the other end of the dominant/submissive spectrum is portrayed. This time there were a mere 3 hits. Who wants to focus on defeat? It’s impolite, really. All three hits depicted a person with their gaze on the floor, their head and body pitched forward. One showed a football player post-game, on the verge of putting his head in his hands, limp and resigned.
In the animal kingdom, if you make yourself larger and hold eye contact you “say,” I do not fear you. You should fear me, for I can hurt you. Alpha-like (recently victorious, confident of an impending victory, or attempting to bluff their way to a victory) chimps raise their arms, frequently with branches or stones in their hands, swagger, and make a scene. They draw attention to themselves. How human. Or perhaps how like the shared ancestor of humans and chimps.
Have you seen any sporting contests lately? Seen any swagger, and raised arms, any verbal chest-thumping?
Even the victor of a spelling bee or a game show is likely to raise their fist in the milquetoast yes. Meanwhile, losers sink into the background, as they instinctually should if they want to avoid a further beating.
These gross action tendencies are found in human cultures in widely disparate places and times. It is all too naturally for the winner, even of a lottery, to raise their arms and jump and scream. To advertise their positive change in status.
As is natural/innate for anyone who has encountered loss — of a bet, of a job, of a boxing match — to slinking away, tempted to curl into a near-fetal position? Even fully symbolic victories and defeats, such as learning the end result of an interview for a coveted job, makes us feeling like acting expansively or to contract into a shell of decreased vulnerability.
Dominant individuals tend to be loud, brash, and unpredictable. They aren’t afraid of catching the attention of others and startling and/or frightening them. In fact they tend to habitually aim for this effect. Fear is an aversive stimulus; if you can provoke it in others, you have power over them.
On the other end of the spectrum, more submissive individuals tend to behave in ways that don’t draw attention to themselves. They speak softly in voice and body language; they make no sudden, unexpected moves.
As Dario Maestripieri, a professor of Comparative Human Development and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago, has noted “Like human dictators intent on holding power, dominant monkeys use frequent and unpredictable aggression as an effective form of intimidation.” (74) This explains how a small, mean man can wield more power than a large, strong man. In the mafia at least, and other organizations that fail to keep despotic rule in check, a little guy who is capriciously violent can rise to the top of faster than a fabulously large and muscular but more placid individual.
In Isaiah 46:3, and numerous other verses, you will find material echoing the above theme: For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. (New International Version)
Again, on the other end of the spectrum we’ve got behavior that aims to refrain from startling superior entities. In the online Nonverbal Dicitonary of Gestures, Signs, and Body Language Cues” (75), you will find these behaviors on the list of submissive gestures: body-bend, bowing; freeze reactions; downward gaze, etc.
While “God” is said to cause natural calamities of all types, believers behave obviously submissively in their places of worship (generally speaking, of course): they speak softly, bow their heads, and refrain from sudden, dramatic, potentially startling movements. You don’t want to startle the “big guy”!
[B]ut fear your God. I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:14)
Do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; submit to the LORD. (2 Chronicles 30:8)
Dictatorships and despotic rule rely upon a populace that fears them. Many contemporary believers speak of a god of love, yet at least originally, the god from whom their more modern version has been derived was a god to be feared. In an electronic search of an online version of the NIV Bible (76), the keyword string, “love the lord” yielded 17 hits. Significantly, the string “fear the lord” yielded 27. In terms of what is actually written in the Bible, and invisible alpha has a preference for being feared that is more than half-again of his desire to be loved.
Have you noticed that after great disasters there seems to be an uptick in religiosity?
There is some truth to the notion that fear inspires belief. When people are afraid they strive to find a reason for a cause of what they fear and to additionally attempt to gain at least the perception of control over it. If only we had behaved better, the great one wouldn’t have displayed his capricious violence once again. Like intermittent reinforcement, intermittent punishment (or the mere perception thereof) is a very powerful motivator, even more powerful than the predictable kind.
In the wake of natural disasters, does the behavior of believers in a supernatural cause of these disasters resemble that of a dog rolling onto its back, averting its eyes, and tucking its tail over its anus (77) so as further diminish the likelihood of inciting the wrath of the more powerful? Yes, I am lesser, please do not hurt me.
The human equivalent? Go to church, cover your head, bow down (at least your head) and whisper words that make explicit your acknowledgment of your status. Your lowly status.
Philosophically speaking, at the time of “the Enlightenment” and beyond, many thinkers have placed the locus of human uniqueness in our use of language, reason, and perhaps in an immortal soul. (Thanks to language we are able to create symbolic representations that represent nothing real, nothing actually found in nature. No language, no soul.)
Even if the human use of language clearly sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, numerous studies have revealed that much, even the bulk, of what we use language for reflects not transcendental values but animal concerns. Gossip, soap operas, sports talk: these serve not an enlightened self, but a self manifesting animalistic urges in the verbal dimension. Sex, aggression, status, alliances, betrayal, loyalty, etc. Language is a tool and we use it much as chimpanzee would, were it able.
[D]ominance-deference relations can be managed through a number of channels, such as word use, pronunciation, accent, masking, and interruptions…. (78)
Speaking of sports, a multitude of individuals have speculated that sports today fill the needs of an animal (mostly male) seeking outlet for its aggressive and domineering aspirations. In sports, there is only one winner, one alpha. Where there outcome yields an alpha, beta, and gamma, the beta frequently fairs worse because the focus is placed not one how far it rose, but on how close it came, but was ultimately defeated. Better to receive a bronze than be cursed with a silver medal.
As Theodor Kemper wrote in his book, Social Structure and Testosterone, “the emotional investment of the lower white-collar class in sports, to some extent as participants, but even more as spectators, provides not only entertainment, but also the occasion to compensate in some degree for the anemic opportunity structure for dominance/eminence.” (79)
Do fans feel they have gained in status when their team wins? They may not consciously know it or admit it, but measure their testosterone levels and you will find that fans of winning teams experience a boost in their levels, just as does the baboon that defeats its opponent to move up a rung.(80)
On a more specific note, yet relevant to the dimension of sporting events, researchers have reported that monkeys of the Macaca primate genus, “would forego a significant amount of reward to see an image of a higher-ranking monkey or of female hindquarters. In contrast, the monkeys had to be ‘paid’ more juice to view lower-ranking monkeys.” (81) And here’s where it gets a bit more interesting. In human beings, social rank is associated with how much visual attention you receive. (82) This is no smoking gun but it is a very suggestive correlation.
What do sports and celebrity magazines do, at least in part, but provide viewers with looks at higher-status individuals? Would the average person need to be paid to view a magazine about assorted “losers”?
In a sense, Jesus was the quarterback-equivalent of the first team of Christians (an expansion team in the Jewish league). The story goes that he led his people to the promised endzone. Of course, if all people could get there on their own, what need would there be for idols?
I’ll end this section with this provoking thought: It has been documented that as status and education levels increase, belief and/or involvement in religion decreases. In our country African Americans, on average, are more active in religion than whites. Does the correlation hint at what happens when you educate a mind? Or is perceived status the deeper issue?
Accept Jesus as your lord and master, and ye shall gain entrance to his kingdom!
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(72) Tiedens, L. & Fragile, A., “Power Moves: Complementarity in Dominant and Submissive Nonverbal Behavior,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, March 1, 2003, Vol. 84 #3
(73) Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
(74) “Human And Monkeys Share Machiavellian Intelligence”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071024144314.htm
(75) http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm
(76) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/
(77) For canines and many other species, the sense of olfaction is powerfully stimulating.
(78) Wickler, W., “Socio-sexual Signals and their Intra-specific Imitation among Primates,” in Morris, D. (ed.) Primate Ethology, Aldine, Chicago, 1967, p. 83
(79) Kemper, T. D. Social Structure and Testosterone, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1990, p. 169
(80) Bernhardt, P., Dabbs, J., Fielden, J. & Lutter C., “Testosterone Changes During Vicarious Experiences of Winning and Losing Among Fans at Sporting Events,” Physiology & Behavior, 1998 Aug;65(1), p. 59-62.
(81) [from Monkey “Pay-Per-View” Study Could Aid Understanding of Autism,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050128213439.htm
(82) Pettit, G., Bakshi, A, Dodge, K., & Cole, J., “The Emergence of Social Dominance in Young Boys’ Play Groups: Developmental differences and Behavioral Correlates,” Developmental Psychology, November 1, 1990, Vol. 26#6
