Mild aggression and lethal violence evolved separately, according to research across 100 primate species. The study challenges the idea that everyday conflict leads to deadly outcomes.
New findings from the University of Lincoln in the UK are challenging a widely held belief about the evolution of human violence. The research suggests that routine, low-level aggression does not necessarily lead to deadly conflict.
Published in the journal Evolution Letters, the study indicates that mild aggression and lethal violence developed through separate evolutionary processes. This offers a fresh perspective on a long-standing debate about human behavior.
The project was led by Professor Bonaventura Majolo at the University of Lincoln, alongside Dr. Samantha Wakes and Professor Marcello Ruta.
Challenging Assumptions About Aggression
Discussions about the roots of human violence often treat aggression as a single trait, implying that species that frequently show everyday aggression are also more prone to lethal acts.
However, the Lincoln study points to a more complex picture.
By examining aggression patterns across 100 primate species, including humans, the researchers found that species with frequent mild aggression are not necessarily more likely to kill competitors.
Separate Paths for Mild and Lethal Aggression
More extreme forms of violence, such as killing adult rivals or infanticide, appear to follow different evolutionary patterns that are separate from everyday conflicts. These results question the idea that violence can be explained as a straightforward inherited trait.
Instead of a single progression from minor disputes to deadly outcomes, the findings suggest that different types of aggression arise under distinct evolutionary and social conditions.
Implications for Human Nature and Evolution
This suggests that the link between routine conflict and extreme violence may be much weaker than many theories propose.
Bonaventura Majolo, Professor of Social Evolution, said, “Understanding the evolutionary roots of violence is important not only for biology but also for how we think about human behavior.
“Our study indicates that the evolution of aggression follows more complex patterns than what earlier models proposed, that it is biologically inaccurate to rank species on the basis of their general propensity for aggression, and that we need a more nuanced approach when discussing whether humans are inherently violent.”
Study Insights From Primate Data
The researchers examined five different categories of aggression, ranging from everyday disputes to lethal attacks, using a large comparative dataset of primate species.
While various forms of lethal aggression showed moderate links to one another, they had little association with mild aggression. This supports the idea that the processes driving lethal violence are evolutionarily distinct.
These findings add to an ongoing debate in anthropology and evolutionary biology about whether human violence is mainly shaped by deep evolutionary factors or by social and cultural influences.
Reference: “Origins of violence: evolutionary decoupling between mild and lethal conspecific aggression in primates” by Bonaventura Majolo, Samantha J Wakes and Marcello Ruta, 3 March 2026, Evolution Letters.
DOI: 10.1093/evlett/qrag002
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