creators_name: Ingram, Gordon P. D. creators_id: g.ingram@bathspa.ac.uk type: preprint datestamp: 2013-05-04 23:26:07 lastmod: 2013-05-04 23:26:07 metadata_visibility: show title: From hitting to tattling to gossip: An evolutionary rationale for the development of indirect aggression subjects: dev-psy subjects: evol-psy full_text_status: public keywords: dominance, evolution of cooperation, indirect reciprocity, language, prestige, reputation note: Manuscript accepted for publication in Evolutionary Psychology, forthcoming special issue on Evolutionary Developmental Psychology abstract: Adult humans are characterized by low rates of intra-group physical aggression, relative to both human children and non-human animals. I propose that the suppression of physically aggressive tendencies has been achieved partly through the replacement of dominance hierarchies by prestige hierarchies, driven by indirect reciprocity and mediated by indirectly aggressive competition and linguistic transmission of reputations. Reviewing the developmental literature on indirect aggression and related constructs provides three pieces of evidence that evolutionarily old impulses towards physical aggression are gradually socialized into indirect aggression: (i) physical aggression falls in early childhood over the same age range during which indirect aggression increases; (ii) the same individuals engage in both physical and indirect aggression; and (iii) dominant individuals practice indirect aggression more frequently. Consideration of the developmental course of indirect aggression is complemented by analysis of similar developments in verbal behaviors that are not necessarily aggressive, namely tattling and gossip. Two developmental transitions in indirect aggression and related behaviors are postulated. The first occurs in early childhood as children become aware of norms against physical aggression. The second occurs in preadolescence with the development of increasingly covert forms of reputational competition, as children try to renegotiate their status within peer social networks. date: 2013-04-15 date_type: submitted refereed: TRUE referencetext: Alexander, R. D. (1987). The biology of moral systems. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Alink, L. R., Mesman, J., Van Zeijl, J., Stolk, M. N., Juffer, F., Koot, H. M., et al. (2006). The early childhood aggression curve: Development of physical aggression in 10‐to 50‐month‐old children. Child Development, 77, 954–966. Andreou, E. (2006). Social preference, perceived popularity, and social intelligence: Relations to overt and relational aggression. School Psychology International, 27, 339–351. Archer, J. (2004). 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(2013) From hitting to tattling to gossip: An evolutionary rationale for the development of indirect aggression. [Preprint] document_url: http://cogprints.org/8971/1/v3_Ingram_From%20Hittling%20to%20Tattling%20to%20Gossip.pdf