Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Battle (1)

If the nature of our aggressive impulses is to be understood at first, it must be considered in our animal origin.Humanity is currently obsessed with the mass production of destructive weapons, so we tend to lose our objectivity when discussing this issue.Indeed, when it comes to the need to repress aggression, even the most dispassionate intellectuals are often fiercely aggressive.This is not surprising.To put it mildly, we too are in chaos, and by the end of the century we will most likely have self-destructed.The only consolation is that, as a species, we've had an exciting time.As far as the life of the species is concerned, this period is not long, but it can really be called eventful.But before examining the eroticism of our offensive and defensive technologies, we must first look at what is the fundamental nature of violence in the animal world without spears, guns, and bombs.

Animals fight for two very legitimate reasons: either to establish their dominance in a social hierarchy, or to establish territorial rights over an area.Some species require only a hierarchical system, but no fixed territory.Some species only have territorial requirements, but no hierarchy.There are also species that establish a hierarchical system within a territory that necessarily involves intense competition between the two forms of aggression.We belong to the last group of species: we have both forms of aggression.As primates, we already carry the baggage of a hierarchical system.This is the basic way of life for primates.A group is nomadic, rarely staying anywhere long enough to establish a territory.Occasionally, fights within groups can occur, but in the lives of monkeys, fighting behavior is unorganized, sporadic, and meaningless. The "pecking order" (hence the name, which arose from the study of aggression in chicken flocks) is just the opposite. big effect.Most monkeys and monkey species have established a very rigid social hierarchy system, in which there is always a dominant male animal in the group, and the rest of the individuals are subordinate to him to varying degrees.When he is old and weak and unable to maintain his dominance, he will be overthrown by another younger and stronger male.The novice thus takes over the mantle of group leader. (Sometimes, the usurper actually grows the leader's "cloak"—a body of long hair.) The leader's tyrant role is at work wherever the group holds together.Despite this, he was always the best-colored, best-groomed, most sexual individual.

Not all primate social organizations are violently authoritarian.Almost every organization has a monarch, but some monarchs are benevolent and forgiving, such as the gorilla monarch.He lets his males share the female with him, and she is generous when it comes to feeding.Only when some unshareable food suddenly appears, only when there is a sign of rebellion, only when his orangutans fight unruly, does he display the authority of the monarch. When the naked ape became a cooperative hunting ape with a fixed home, this fundamental system of his behavior as a primate had to change.As with his sexuality, his primate-typical hierarchy was altered to accommodate his newfound role as a carnivore.His herd necessarily becomes territorial animals.He must defend his fixed dwelling place.Since the hunting life is a cooperative activity, his territorial behavior of defending his residence must be a group behavior, not an individual behavior.The often tyrannical hierarchies within primate groups had to be drastically altered to ensure the full cooperation of weaker members when hunting.However, the hierarchy cannot be completely abolished.A gentle hierarchy must be preserved, in which there must be some stronger individuals, a supreme leader, if the decisions of the leader are to be firmly carried out - even if the leader has to be more deliberate than the leader of the hairy arboreal ape Subordinate feelings.

In addition to territorial group behavior and hierarchical organization, children's long-term dependence on parents forces us to adopt the family unit of fixed spouses, and another form of self-prominence emerges.Each male, as head of the family, also has to defend his own family's place within the group settlement. It follows that we have three basic forms of aggression, rather than the usual one or two that primates have.All three forms of aggression, as we have learned the hard way and our losses, are still pervasive; despite the complexity of our society. How does the attack work?What is the pattern of behavior involved?How do we scare each other?We still have to look at other animals to find out.After the aggression of mammals is provoked, many physiological changes occur inside the body.The whole body is speeding up and ready to act due to the excitement of the autonomic nervous system: the autonomic nervous system is composed of two subsystems that oppose each other and restrict each other—the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.The sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for strenuous activity.The job of the parasympathetic nervous system is to preserve and restore the body's reserves.The former nervous system says, "You're being forced to move, do it." The second nervous system says, "Take it easy, relax, and conserve your energy." Normally, the body listens to both Sound, with a perfect balance between the two.However, whenever the body is agitated, it only listens to the sympathetic nervous system.After the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated, a large amount of adrenaline is injected into the blood and the whole blood circulation system is deeply affected.Blood flows from the skin and internal organs to the muscles and brain.Blood pressure rises.The production of red blood cells is greatly accelerated.The time it takes for blood to clot is reduced.In addition, the process of digesting and storing food is temporarily suspended.Salivation is restricted.Stomach motility, gastric juice secretion, and intestinal peristalsis are all inhibited.Also, the rectum and bladder are not as easy to pass as usual.Carbohydrates stored in the body are quickly flushed out of the liver, causing a sharp increase in glucose in the blood.Respiratory activity is greatly enhanced, and the frequency and intensity of breathing are increased.The mechanism for regulating body temperature also activates.His hairs stood on end and he was dripping with sweat.

All of these changes help animals prepare for battle.As if by magic, they relieve fatigue in an instant and mobilize vast amounts of energy in readiness for the anticipated struggle for survival.Blood is pumped vigorously to where it is needed most - the brain and muscles for quick thinking and intense exercise.Elevated blood sugar increases the working efficiency of muscles.Expedited blood coagulation process: Any traumatic bleeding can coagulate more quickly, thereby reducing blood loss.The increased rate at which the spleen releases red blood cells, coupled with increased blood circulation, contributes to the improved metabolic function of the respiratory system—absorbing oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide.The erect hair exposes the skin to the air, which helps the body dissipate heat, and the sweat glands discharge a lot of sweat, which also helps dissipate heat.The risk of overheating due to excessive activity is thus reduced.

After all the vital systems of the body are activated, the animal is ready to attack, but there is an unexpected obstacle.A life-and-death struggle yields valuable victories, but it can mortally wound the victor.The adversary must provoke both offense and fear.Aggression drives the animal to the charge, and fear holds it back.A violent conflict arises in the body.The typical pattern of behavior is that an animal that is ready to attack does not jump in and attack with all its strength.At first it only threatened to attack.The conflict in the body restrained its hands and feet. Although it was tense up and ready to fight, it was not yet ready to attack immediately.In this case, it is obviously preferable if the intimidation given is sufficient to deter the adversary from slipping away.The victories thus won could avoid bloodshed.Internal differences are resolved in this way without undue detriment to group members; it is clear that the species reaps enormous benefits in the process.

In the life of all higher animals there is this strong tendency--the tendency to ritualized fighting.Threats and counter-threats have largely replaced actual combat, and desperate struggles still occur, of course, but only as a last resort.A last resort is only resorted to if the attack signal and the counter attack signal fail to resolve the dispute.The physical signs of the above-mentioned physiological changes are a powerful indicator to the opponent of the strength of the animal's readiness to attack. Behaviorally, the mechanism works extremely well.But physiologically, it creates a problem.The body is already ready to do a lot of work.However, the anticipated efforts did not materialize.How does the autonomic nervous system deal with this situation?It has ordered all its troops to go to the front and stand ready, but the very presence of troops has won the war.Then what happens?

If physical combat naturally follows a general mobilization of the sympathetic nervous system, all the bodily preparations it has mobilized are put to good use.The energy is consumed, and finally the parasympathetic nervous system becomes prominent again, and the body gradually achieves physiological tranquility.However, in the case of intense conflict between the two mental states of aggression and fear, all kinds of physiological activities are suspended.As a result, the parasympathetic nervous system launches a violent counterattack, and the pendulum of the autonomic nervous system swings violently.As moments of threat and counterthreat alternate, we see parasympathetic nervous system activity interleaved with sympathetic nervous system representations.Thirst is followed by profuse salivation.The contraction of the bowel suddenly collapses and the stool is expelled suddenly.The urine that had been tightly shut in the distended bladder came out like a flood.The blood flowing to the skin flows back to the internal organs in large quantities, and the highly congested and reddened skin turns pale.The rapid, deep breaths were dramatically interrupted and turned into gasping gasps. All of these signs point to the desperate efforts of the parasympathetic nervous system to counteract the overexcitement of the sympathetic nervous system.Under normal circumstances, a violent reaction in one direction cannot occur at the same time as a violent reaction in the other direction.but.Everything is momentarily thrown off balance at the extreme of an overly threatening situation. (This may explain why, in the case of extreme fright, a person faints. In this case, the blood flowing to the mainland rushes out of the brain again, and the person suddenly loses consciousness.

This physiological agitation is a natural giveaway in terms of threatening this signaling system.It provides a richer source of signals.Over the course of evolution, these emotional representations have become more detailed in a number of ways.Urinating and defecating has become a territory-marking scent for many mammals.The most common example is the behavior of domestic dogs raising their legs to urinate and mark out their territory; when threatening each other, this activity is more frequent among domestic dogs. (The streets of our cities overstimulate this behavior for domestic dogs because they criss-cross the territories of many rivals. Each dog is then forced to over-saturate the scents of these areas in an attempt to compete with the other dogs.) Some animals have evolved tricks to defecate excessively.Hippos have unusually flat tails.During defecation, its tail flicks rapidly.The result is a fan-shaped tail that casts the droppings far and wide over a wide area.Many species develop specialized anal glands whose secretions impart an individual animal's odor to the feces.

The turbulence of the circulatory system produces extreme changes in the skin's pallor and redness, which leave bare patches on the faces of many animals and on the rump of some animals, and the plaques are a unique signature.Mouth movements and grunts from disturbed breathing develop into elaborate grunts and growls and many other vocalizations indicative of aggressive behavior.Some people think that this can explain how the entire communication system composed of vocal signals originated.Many animals can inflate their bodies when threatened—perhaps by inflating specialized air sacs or pouches. (This is especially common in birds, which have several air sacs. This is an essential part of their respiratory system.)

Erect aggression evolved specialized crested hair, cape, mane and bangs.These and some other hairy areas become highly noticeable.Their feathers become longer and stiffer.These skins have undergone a drastic change in color to create a strong contrast with the surrounding fur.When an animal is agitated and aggressive, its feathers stand on end, making it suddenly appear larger and more terrifying; Aggressive sweating becomes another source of odor signals.In many cases, there has also been an evolutionary tendency to take advantage of this possibility.Some sweat glands are greatly swollen and become complex scent glands.Such scent glands can be found on the face, feet, tail, and other parts of many animals. All these improvements have enriched the animal's communication system, making its emotional language more subtle and informative.They enable a more precise "readability" of the animal's agitated threat behavior. However, this is only half the story.Only the signals of the autonomic nervous system have been examined above.Beyond that, there is a whole host of signals available.The source of this set of signals is the tense muscle movements and posture of the animal when it is threatening.The autonomic nervous system's instructions are to mobilize the body and prepare the muscles for movement.But what do the muscles do after receiving the love command?The muscles were primed for an assault, but the assault didn't happen.It ends in a series of aggressive moves, contradictory and conflicting gestures.The impulses to attack and to flee pull the body in different directions, causing the animal to lunge forward, jerk back, turn sideways, crouch, jump, stoop, and then go sideways.No sooner had the impulse to attack gained the upper hand than the impulse to flee canceled the order to attack.Every retreating move is thwarted by an offensive move.in the process of evolution.This general agitation turned into a specialized gesture of intimidation.These intentional movements are stylized, and the rapidly changing contradictory movements are formalized into rhythmic twisting and trembling.A whole new set of offensive signals was developed and perfected. Thus, we see elaborate threat rituals and combat "dances" in many animals.The competing animals circle each other in typical swaggering motions, their bodies tense and rigid.They may stoop, nod, shudder, shake rhythmically, and repeat short, programmed runs.They scratch the ground with their claws, arch their waists, and lower their heads.All these intentional movements are important communication signals, and they are effectively combined with signals from the autonomic nervous system to form a detailed picture showing the strength of the aroused impulse; they accurately label the impulse to attack and flight. Impulsive balance. However.The problems don't stop there.Another important source of unique signals comes from another category of behavior called displacement activity.One of the side effects of intense internal conflict is that animals sometimes exhibit bizarre, seemingly unrelated episodes of behavior.It was as if the nervous animal was unable to perform the attack or flight behavior it so wanted to do, and found another completely unrelated activity to vent its accumulated energy.The urge to flee blocks the urge to attack, and the urge to attack in turn blocks the urge to flee, so it finds another outlet for its feelings.Mutual threatening foes may suddenly make an inexplicable and arrogant feeding gesture, only to stop abruptly before finishing it, and then immediately return to a full threatening posture.They may also scratch and groom, reverting to their typical threatening tactics at any time in between.Some animals perform displacement nesting maneuvers, lifting nearby nesting material.Throw it into an imaginary nest.There are also animals that like to "snooze" (sleep with their heads down briefly), yawn, stretch, and so on. There has been intense debate surrounding these translocation activities.It has been argued that there is no objective justification for saying that displacement activity is associated with aggression.If an animal eats, it must be hungry; if it scratches, it must be itchy.They stress that it is impossible to prove that an animal that is threatening an opponent is not hungry when it performs the transposition, or that it does not itch when it scratches.However, this is an unrealistic criticism.Anyone who has actually observed and studied the aggressive behavior of many animals knows that this criticism is obviously absurd.In the tense and dramatic moments of an animal confrontation, the idea that the contest would suddenly stop (even for a split second) to eat to eat, to tickle to tickle, to nap to nap is patently absurd . Although there is still academic debate on the evolutionary reasons for translocation activities, one point is clear: from a functional point of view, translocation activities provide another source of valuable threat signals, and many animals have expanded translocation behavior, making They become more and more eye-catching, more and more showy colors. This can be avoided.All of these activities—autonomic nervous system signals, intentional movements, paradoxical posturing and displacement—become elaborate rituals that, taken together, provide the animal with a large set of threatening signals.In most cases of conflict, they are sufficient to resolve the conflict between opponents and keep animals from resorting to violence.But if this one signaling system fails, as is the case in extreme overcrowding, a real brawl ensues.Threat signals give way to the brute force of physical brawling.Therefore, the teeth are used for biting, cutting and stabbing, the head and horns are used for bumping and stabbing, the body is used for bumping, rushing and pushing, the legs and feet are used for grasping, kicking and beating, and the hands are used for grasping, Pulling, tearing, sometimes whipping and swiping with the tail.Still, it's extremely rare for one opponent to kill another.Animals have evolved hunting techniques specifically for their prey, which they rarely use to fight their own kind. (At this point, too, there are occasions when a false assumption is made about the relationship between the behavior of attacking prey and the activity of attacking similar opponents. In fact, the two behaviors are very different in motivation and expression.) Once an adversary of its kind has been subdued, it is no longer a threat and can be left alone.It would be meaningless to spend energy on it any longer.At this time, you can let it slip away without hurting or coercing it. Before the various challenging activities above can be considered in relation to us humans, there is one more aspect of animal aggression that needs to be examined.This aspect is related to the behavior of the defeated.When the status of the defeated can not be maintained, it is obviously the best policy to walk.However, it is not always possible to escape as quickly as possible.There may be natural obstacles in its way of escape.If it is in a dense social group, it may have to stay within the territory of the victor.In both cases; it has to signal to the stronger opponent that it is no longer a threat, that it has no intention of fighting anymore.If it until it was terribly injured.When the bout is exhausted, it is a clear sign that it has declared defeat, and the animal that has the upper hand will leave without harassing it.It could, however, avoid a more severe punishment if it did not wait until its position had deteriorated to this utterly unfortunate position to show that it had surrendered.This can be done with some typical displays of surrender.These displays of conceding defeat can appease the aggressor, quickly reducing his aggression and speeding up the resolution of the dispute. The signal of throwing in the towel is manifested in several ways.There are two basic modes, one that turns "off" the signals that provoke aggressive behavior, and one that turns "on" the unmistakably non-aggressive signals.The first type of signal can only calm down an animal that has the upper hand. The latter type of signal can positively change the mood of the attacker and thus help calm the victor.The simplest form of surrender is to remain motionless.Since aggression manifests itself in vigorous movement, a stationary posture naturally indicates non-aggression.Quitting is often combined with squatting and crouching.Aggressiveness makes the body expand to the limit, and the squatting posture in turn shrinks the body, so it can appease the opponent.Avoiding confrontation with the attacker also helps to show surrender, as it is the opposite of a frontal offensive stance.There are also some behaviors that are opposed to threats.If an animal uses lowering its head as a threatening gesture, raising the head becomes a valuable calming gesture.If the attacker's hair stands on end.Then tightening the hair can be used as a means of convincing the eye.On some rare occasions, the vanquished admits defeat by turning their vulnerable parts toward the attacker.For example, a chimpanzee will extend a hand as a gesture of submission, which makes its hand extremely vulnerable to being bitten by the opponent.Since an attacking chimpanzee would never bite the outstretched hand of a defeated fighter, this begging gesture calms the strong hand. The function of the second calming signal is to induce another motivation for the attacker.The signals from the submissive stimulate the strong to a non-aggressive response.As this reaction arises in the attacker's mind, its urge to fight is suppressed and subdued.Submissives make peace in three main ways.A particularly effective method is to adopt the cub begging position.The weak squatted down like a cub begging for food, which is a typical gesture of admitting defeat to the strong.Females especially like to use this position when they are being attacked by males.This is so effective that the male spits out some food for the female to eat.The female then swallows the food, completing the ritual of begging in a begging posture.As a result, the male is completely dominated by paternal, protective emotions, his aggression dissipates, and the pair of enemies calm down and make up again.This ritual is the basis of the begging pattern in many animal courtships.This is especially true in the courtship rituals of birds, where males are aggressive in the early stages of mate formation, and another activity that induces new motivations in attackers is the adoption of female mating gestures by weaklings.Regardless of the gender of the weak, no matter where it is in estrus, it may suddenly make a gesture with its hips facing the strong.When it shows its hips towards the attacker, it arouses the sexual response of the strong man and thus cools down the aggressiveness of the strong man.In this case, the dominator, male or female, will step on the back of the weak, pretending to mate with the weak, regardless of whether the submissive is male or female. A third form of another motive in the strong is the emotion which induces it to groom the weak, or to have the weak groom it.In the life of the animal kingdom, there are many activities in which members of the community groom each other's hair.This gesture is strongly associated with quiet, peaceful moments in communal life.The weakling may ask the victor to groom it, or it may signal the victor to allow it to groom.Monkeys use this trick.The request comes with a distinctive facial expression, including a quick smack of the lips.This expression is a ritualized rendition of the usual grooming action with slight variations.As one monkey grooms another, it repeatedly throws flakes of skin and other debris into its mouth while smacking it.The weak one exaggerates the action of smacking lips, speeds up its frequency, and expresses its willingness to do its duty. It often uses this to restrain the aggressiveness of the attacker, make it relax and allow it to groom the hair instead.After a while, the dominant monkey was appeased by grooming, and the weak monkey took the opportunity to slip away unharmed. The above are the rituals and means used by animals to deal with aggressive behavior. The so-called "claw's bloody nature" was originally used to refer to the brutal hunting activities of carnivores.But it was later used to refer generally to fighting behavior throughout the animal kingdom.This is so wrong.For any species to survive, it must not kill each other.Aggression within a species must be suppressed and controlled.The more powerful and ferocious a species' hunting weapons, the stronger the repressive mechanisms that prevent their use to resolve intraspecies disputes.This is what is known as the "law of the jungle" when it comes to territorial and hierarchical debates.Any species that failed to obey this law has long since become extinct. To what extent are we humans compliant with the above sensibilities? What is our unique set of threats and reassurance signals?What are our methods of fighting?How do we control the methods of these battles? The urges aroused by aggression produce in us physiological disturbances, muscular tensions, and agitated emotions, exactly the same as the general physiological changes of the aforementioned animals.Like other animals, we also exhibit various displacement activities.In some respects, we are less equipped than other animals, and they develop basic displacement activities into powerful signals.For example, we can't intimidate our opponents by bristling.In moments of shock, our hairs stand on end (the so-called "I have the creeps").But as a signal of intimidation to an opponent; it does nothing.In other respects we are superior to other animals.Our bare skin, while preventing us from effectively bristling, gives us the privilege of sending powerful flushing and pallor signals.We can be "lime with rage", "red with rage", or "pale with fright".Among these words we should pay attention to the word "pale".It means activity.It becomes a very dangerous signal when combined with actions indicating an attack.Combined with actions indicative of fear, it becomes a signal of terror.You may also recall that it is caused by an excitation of the sympathetic nervous system.The sympathetic nervous system is also the system that issues the "hands on" command.This system must not be taken lightly.Conversely, flushed skin is nothing to worry about, because it is caused by the parasympathetic nervous system desperately counteracting the excitement of the sympathetic nervous system, and it shows that the sympathetic nervous system that issued the "hands-on" command has been pulled from the bottom.An angry, red-faced opponent is far less likely to attack you than a pale, pursed-lipped opponent.The red-faced opponent is in a fierce self-conflict, his impulses are blocked, and his emotions are suppressed.However, the pale one is still ready to attack.Neither type should be taken lightly, but the pale one is more likely to jump up and attack unless he is calmed down immediately or counter-threats are more serious. In a similar mood, fast and deep breathing is a danger sign.However, by the time it snorts heavily and gurgles, its threat has eased.A similar relationship exists between mouth dryness during the initial aggression and salivation when the aggression is strongly thwarted.Moments of extreme stress are accompanied by intense shock, often followed by incontinence and fainting. When the impulses to attack and to flee are simultaneously strongly aroused, we display several typical intentional movements and paradoxical gestures.The most familiar of these is the raised clenched fist, a gesture that has been ritualized in two ways.When doing this action, there is still a considerable distance from the opponent. This distance is too far, and the fist cannot be turned into a real blow.Therefore, its function is no longer actual physical exertion.Instead, it became a visual signal.Coupled with the back and forth chopping action of the forearm, it is further ritualized.The movement of shaking the fist like this is also a visual signal.We rhythmically repeated the "swing" with our fists, but we were still out of a safe distance from hitting our opponent. When throwing a punch to threaten the opponent, the whole body may make some short-term intentional movements of approaching forward. These movements are often self-restrained and do not go too far.Feet may be stomped loudly, fists may be slammed on objects that are easily accessible.This last movement is also common in other animals, and it is often called the pre-change direction activity.The situation is this: because the object (equivalent to the opponent) that provokes the aggressive behavior is too scary to attack directly, so although the aggressive action is issued, it must be turned to another less scary object, such as Like a harmless bystander (as we've all suffered as bystanders), or even an inanimate object.If the aggression is directed at an object, it may be smashed to pieces and completely damaged.When the wife throws the vase on the ground and smashes it to pieces, the scattered fragments are naturally equivalent to the brainless head of the husband.Interestingly, chimpanzees and gorillas often exhibit redirection in their own form, tearing, smashing, and lashing nearby branches and trees.Likewise, the act of changing the direction of an attack has a strong visual impact. Accompanying all these expressions of aggression is a specialized and important phenomenon, that of making facial expressions that threaten the opponent.Together with verbal signals, they provide us with the most precise means of accurately conveying the emotion of aggression.As noted in an earlier chapter, the smiling expression is unique to humans; however, our aggressive facial expressions, expressive as they are, are similar to those of the higher primates. (We can tell an angry monkey from a frightened monkey with just a glance, but we have to learn to recognize a friendly monkey.) The law is simple: the more the impulse to attack overwhelms the impulse to flee, the more the muscles in the face grow. The more it protrudes forward.Fear, in turn, takes over and the facial muscles retract.When the facial expression is aggressive, the brows protrude forward tightly, the forehead stretches without wrinkles, the corners of the mouth also protrude forward, and the lips are tightly closed in a straight line.When fear dominates the emotion, the half-frightened and intimidating look emerges.The brows are raised, the forehead is wrinkled, the corners of the mouth are drawn back, the lips are parted, and the teeth are slightly exposed.This facial expression is often accompanied by other postures - postures that look aggressive.Because of this, expressions such as furrowed foreheads and bared teeth are sometimes interpreted as signs of "anger."In fact, however, they are "fear" signals.Such facial expressions provide an early warning sign that fear is taking over, although the rest of the posture still gives the appearance of intimidation.Of course, it's still a menacing look, so it's not to be taken lightly.If the face is full of fear, the facial muscles will no longer retract, and the person will shrink back. These various facial expressions are ones we share with monkeys.It's worth keeping this in mind should you ever have the chance to encounter a large baboon.In addition, we have created two other emoticons in the cultural evolution, such as sticking out the tongue and puffing the cheeks.Touching the tip of the nose with the thumb, twisting the muscles of the facial features exaggeratedly; all of these greatly increase our menacing facial expressions.Most cultures also borrow other bodily movements to indicate intimidation and insult, adding to the many intimidating and insulting gestures.The aggressive intentional movement ("jump with rage") has been distilled into many different, highly stylized, vigorous war dances.The function of the war dance is to arouse the emotions of the community, synchronizing their strong aggressive emotions, rather than expressing aggressive emotions directly to the enemy. Since we are a potentially very dangerous species thanks to cultural developments that have introduced man-made lethal weapons, it should come as no surprise that we find ourselves armed with an incredibly wide variety of reassuring signals.We share the same basic modes of submission—crouching and screaming—as other primates.In addition to this, we have formalized a large set of submissive movements.The squatting posture has been developed to a five-body throw on the ground.Less intense stylized movements include kneeling, bowing, and curtsying.The crucial signal is to lower the body, so that the strong are in a condescending position.When we signal a threat, we inflate our bodies to the limit, making our bodies as tall as possible.therefore.The act of submission must run counter to this—to keep the body as low as possible.We didn't lower our bodies to show submission at will, but programmed it into typical and fixed levels of hard work, each with a unique signal meaning.In this respect, the salute is interesting; because it illustrates how formal gestures can be used to convey cultural signals even if they deviate considerably from the original meaning of the gesture.At first glance, the military salute looks like an aggressive gesture.It is quite similar to the signal of raising one's hand to hit someone.The key difference is this: the hand is not clenched into a fist, and it is pointing at the cap.It is, of course, a slightly modified posture after the stylization of the hat-off, which was originally part of the act of lowering the body. The original and simple squatting action of primates has been separated into today's bowing action. This process is also quite interesting.Its main feature is the lowered position of the eyes.Staring is the most downright aggressive behavior.It is one of the most ferocious facial expressions and accompanies the most provocative poses. （儿童的一种游戏叫“看谁盯赢谁”，其难度很大，就是这个道理。幼儿出于好奇而凝视别人，这样一个天真的动作，竟然被父母斥为“盯别人不礼貌”，竟然受到如此的谴责，也同样是这个道理。）无论鞠躬礼因社会习俗的变化而简化到何等程度，它总是包括使面部降低位置这一成分。比如说吧，宫庭中的男侍，由于经常不断的重复，已经修正了鞠躬礼，但是依然要埋头；不过他们不再弯腰。仅仅僵直地弯曲脖子，把头部低下来而已。 在不那么正式的场合，反凝视（anti－stare）的反应，仅仅是目光移开的动作，或者是目光游动（Shift－eyed）的表情。只有十足的好斗者才目不转睛地盯着人看较长的时间。在乎常面对面的交谈中，我们的一个典型动作是将目光从交谈伙伴的脸上移开，每说完一句话或“一段话”又将目光移回瞥他一眼，看看他的反应如何。专业演讲人花时间训练如何直视听众，而不是将目光越过他们的头顶，或埋头看讲台，或看讲演厅的两侧或后壁。即使他处在支配的地位，但由于听众人多，且全都凝视着他（从他们安安稳稳的座位上），所以他感觉到一种基本的、开初难以控制的、对听众的畏惧。只有经过大量练习，才能克服怯场。大群听众的直视这一简单的、带有攻击性的动作，是又一原因，它使演员出场前感到忐忑不安。当然，他的很多忧虑都是合乎理性的——他担心听众的素质、听众是否接受他的表演等等。但是，那么多双眼睛吓人的凝视构成了对他的另一种更基本的威胁。（这个例子又说明，在潜意识层次中，人们把出于好奇心的凝视和威胁人的盯视混淆起来了。）矫正视力的眼镜和太阳镜使面孔的攻击性增大。因为它们出乎意料地造成错觉，仿佛盯视表情的模式被放大了。戴眼镜的人看我们时，我们的感觉是眼睛睁得特大。气质温和的人往往选择细边眼镜或无边眼镜（大概未意识到为何要作这样的选择），因为这既使得他们看得比较清楚，又可以给人最低限度的夸大盯视的感觉。这样，就可以避免引起别人反过来盯自己。