3. From Ape to Human

Global Problems of Population Growth (MCDB 150)

Throughout prehistoric, written, and recent history, human warfare has been commonplace. Nearly all societies engage in regular or periodic war. In many examples, human warfare has characteristics similar to chimpanzee war: an in-group fights with and kills members of the out-group. This information is not to be misinterpreted as either justifying human violence or considering it inevitable. When it comes to births and fecundity, though, humans are very different from the other great apes. Chimpanzees reproduce once every five to eight years; humans can give birth again within 18 months. It is likely that an increase in male contribution to child rearing allowed this greater fecundity.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Human Demography and Violence
09:24 - Chapter 2. Violence in Prehistoric and Primitive Societies
23:37 - Chapter 3. Explanations for Human Violence
29:09 - Chapter 4. Violence in Written Human History
36:08 - Chapter 5. Violence: In-Group Versus Out-Group and Biological Basis
46:45 - Chapter 6. Human Demography: Births
59:26 - Chapter 7. Differences in Fertility Between Humans and Chimpanzees

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2009.