Sep 24 2009
Grooming to Mollify the Great Gorilla
“It has already been shown that allogrooming can be used as an appeasement gesture in lower primates, and this incident [among chimpanzees] seemed to reflect a currying of favour with the leader by a subordinate.”
- John Sparks (39)
To appease means to pacify and/or satisfy, to please by putting an individual at ease. Less stress means relatively more pleasure. Yet human beings don’t physically groom higher ranking individuals. So how do they put the relatively greater at ease? Maybe much like the chimpanzee sometimes does.
“Apparently, subjects inferred that their former opponent was more likely to renew aggression if she had not grunted to them than if she had. Grunts seemed to serve a reconciliatory function.” (40)
Grunts. Nonverbal vocalizations “say a lot.” Verbal ones say even more. As we will see in subsequent posts, grooming among primates frequently entails a vocal element.
Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. (Psalms 47:6)
Noted primatologist Frans de Waal says a whole lot about both chimpanzee and human hierarchical behavior in this passage from his book, Peacemaking Among Primates -
“The mechanism of ‘no submission, no peace’ is a form of conditional reassurance; that is, the dominant’s reassurance of the subordinate, by means of friendly gestures, is contingent on the subordinate’s reassurance of the dominant, by an acknowledgment of the inequality in status. Every hierarchy-oriented species has evolved special signals for this purpose. These signals are comparable to the military salute of soldiers to their commanders. The soldier who forgets to perform this ritual will soon find out that the mechanism of conditional reassurance is the backbone of every rank system. Its existence warns against the popular view of rank order as a mere ladder of superiority. The situation is more complicated; rank order bind individuals together in a pact of loyalty. As Rudolph Schenkel remarked about the wolf’s status signals, Submission is the effort of the inferior to attain friendly or harmonic social integration.’” (41)
“Yes sir.” “At your service.” What do these human vocal behaviors accomplish?
As a youth raised Catholic, I voiced perhaps thousands of times this string of words: Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. Why the need for mercy from a loving god?
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary the term mercy first appeared in print in 1175 C.E. It referred to “God’s forgiveness of his creatures’ offenses.” Offenses? Mercy comes from Latin for “mercedem (nom. merces),” meaning wages or reward.(42)
Must you pay for your original sin of being lesser? As a lesser you are a burden to the greater, for the greater must keep an eye on you. And what can the greater gain from a lesser? From the lesser’s perspective, you pay for your lesser status to assure the greater that you are loyal to it, that you know your place.
Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. (Psalms 28:6)
The alpha of a primate group is, generally speaking, a powerful individual. While that can mean brute strength, power can also come from other abilities, including the ability to form and maintain strategic alliances. (Or, in the case of U.S. politicians, the ability to effectively fund raise.)
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you. (Joel 2:26)
It takes a powerful agent to work wonders.
Much of religious doctrine is about how not to incite anger in the invisible alpha of a people. Again, this form of negative reinforcement (removing something unpleasant) is a general means of appeasing a god.
Ancient Egyptian gods, for example, could be angered by the following acts: blasphemy (speaking poorly of a god or highly of oneself, hence threatening the supernatural hierarchy), damaging the offerings to the god, stealing offerings, copulating with off-limit partners or in off-limits places, etc. (43) So don’t do these if you want to stay on the good side of your invisible, most-high gorilla.
As for positive reinforcement, appeasement gestures can bleed into outright or implicit begging. In his guide to the Bible, Isaac Asimov examined the etymology of a common Biblical term. “The word ‘hosanna’ is a Greek version of a Hebrew phrase meaning ‘Save! We pray!’ or, in ordinary language, ‘Please help us.’” (44)
In many Bible verses the people’s god is entreated to do something for them.
Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. (Jeremiah 17:14)
In the most recent funeral service I attended, the following lines were repeated by the congregation. Is there a hidden motive behind this type of verbal grooming of a god:
“I believe in God, the father almighty.”
“Most humbly and heartily we give you thanks, that by his death he has destroyed the power of death.”
“Have mercy on us.”
Translation: I am loyal to you and accept our lopsided relationship; I am “low” (humble) and am indebted to you; Don’t hurt us . . . and maybe even help us.
Robin Wright, in his book, The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life, wrote, “gratitude, by reflecting the value of the benefit received, calibrates the repayment that’s in order. Gratitude is an I.O.U., so naturally it records what’s owed.” (45)
Ah yes, the pervasive human concern with strengthening beneficial relationships and diminishing the potentially harmful dimension of others.
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. (Isaiah 25:1)
The faithful give “props” to their god. They show proper respect. For they benefit from a harmonious relationship with a more powerful agent. Thus, a great god needs to see acknowledgment of its greatness (proper respect). How is the hierarchy to be maintained without such displays? How is a peaceable and profitable relationship to be maintained?
Human beings are apes. Their gods: ape-like. If not in form, in behavior and desires.
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(39) Sparks, J., “Allogrooming in Primates: a Review,” in Morris, D. (ed.) Primate Ethology, Aldine, Chicago, 1967, p. 170
(40) Cheney, D. L., & Seyfarth, R. M. Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007, p.81
(41) de Waal, F. Peacemaking Among Primates, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1989, p. 45
(42) http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mercy
(43) Redford, D. B., The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002, p. 175
(44) Asimov, I., Asimov’s Guide to the Bible: The Old and New Testaments, Wing Books, New York, 1969, p. 861
(45) Wright, R., The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life, Vintage, NY, 1995, p. 205
