http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg18624981.300"LOOK at the world's worst trouble spots and you can't fail to notice they have one thing in common: tit-for-tat attacks between warring parties. Escalation of violence is incredibly destructive, yet we humans find it very difficult to break the vicious cycle. It seems we are not good at conflict resolution." ... says 'Lee Dugatkin who is a behavioural ecologist at the University of Louisville, Kentucky', and who goes on to point out that we can learn from 'Spotted Hyenas' .."
...(ok you lot...spare me the hilarity !)...
"Spotted hyenas are highly sociable. Like other animals that live in close-knit groups, they don't always get along. But spotted hyenas don't hold a grudge. Within about 5 minutes of a fight, the erstwhile combatants can often be seen playing, licking or rubbing one another, or engaging in other friendly acts to dissipate the tension. And they are not the only animals with a penchant for kissing and making up. In their book Natural Conflict Resolution, Filippo Aureli from Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and Frans de Waal from the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, document reconciliation in no less than 27 species of primates. Bottlenose dolphins also do it. Even goats. So why can't we be more forgiving?..."
"...Admittedly, human interactions are far more complex. But perhaps we can draw some lessons from the study of conflict resolution in nature. Not only have ethologists discovered that it is a lot more common than you might expect, they are also working out the costs and benefits of conflict resolution. Their ideas about when, where and how reconciliation works in nature could help us to improve the chances of settling our own disputes."
OK, so the article goes on to 'Stress Busting', 'conflict resolution' and 'cost benefits'...Sigh...guess it has to try to appeal to ...everyone...
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