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2017
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(2017) : Alternate Human Behavior In: Hermann, Henry R.: Dominance and aggression in humans and other animals: The great game of life: London, United Kingdom: Academic Press/Elsevier, S. 139-157
Abstract: Dominance interactions are found in all walks of life and at all levels of human existence. They may be powerful expressions that influence society in a positive or negative fashion (e.g., a political leader who genuinely cares about his or her constituents, versus a political psychopath who does as he or she pleases, sometimes destroying the lives of those who get in the way). On the other hand, they may be less-significant expressions; for example, simply winning at a competitive sport or game of cards. People who have an antisocial personality typically express their form of dominance in a more aggressive, sometimes violent fashion. The development of a sedentary lifestyle in humans led to the formation of larger groups and increased interrelationships, including individuals who were extra-familial. Most urban and suburban human societies continue in this fashion, while aboriginal societies either live in multifamily groups or have retained the earlier family-oriented groupings. Our predecessors learned that living in a large group was a more effective way of meeting material and spiritual needs, and it functioned as a better system of defense against threats. Unfortunately, opposing groups became larger as well, and their differences often led to altercations and mass killings. Existing in groups comes with certain responsibilities. Rules must be made (generally based on religious, moral, and political beliefs), and members of such a group are expected to become familiar with and practice behaviors that depict a social “norm.” While social norms vary, depending on the society to which an individual belongs, some members of a society are willing to abide by social rules while others are not. Those who do abide by the rules are considered part of the “norm,” while those who do not are said to express alternate behavior. Thus, human society is composed of a tremendous variety of individuals at both extremes and others who fit somewhere in between. They occupy different behavioral categories and different rungs within the linear and despotic dominance hierarchies that exist. It is often dominant individuals who influence the making of societal rules, and it is often dominant individuals who break them. In choosing rule-making leaders, we desire individuals who are morally selfless and possibly sometimes even altruistic. While this may happen on occasion, many individuals who make the rules have more materialistic or sadistic reasons for domination. Such individuals are accustomed to using deceit to influence their followers, and their deceitful mannerisms are often difficult to recognize. In rule making, dominant individuals (especially those who have an antisocial personality) often make rules that are not self-demanding and are often directly beneficial for the rule maker. Thus, it is a selfish attitude. In rule breaking, dominant individuals generally demonstrate an even more selfish approach as well. This chapter is about those people, people with personalities who desire to dominate others by aberrant means and do not care about what the consequences of their behavior are to others. In the minds of most of society, they are the social outcasts, bullies, burglars, corporate and identity thieves, abusers, murderers, and rapists that every society must contend with. Many people who demonstrate behaviors other than the “norm” do not precisely fit descriptions of antisocial personalities, and there are no definite lines of demarcation separating one group from another. Rather, there is a gradation of personalities from one end of the scale to the other, a bell curve of personalities, if you will. While many people are perfectly comfortable in following societal rules, some people choose to isolate themselves from society by not becoming involved, separating themselves from other individuals and societal functions. They practice what has been described as an asocial way of life. Types of sociopaths, mental illness, personality disorders, psychopathic behavior, antisocial personality disorders, love, respect, falling out of love, stalking, tolerance, adultery, hatred, hate groups, and other forms of alternate behavior complete the chapter.
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