Play and Aggression: A Study of Rhesus Monkeys
 Title page | |
| Author | Donald Symons |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Rhesus macaque |
| Publisher | Columbia University Press |
Publication date | 1978 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 246 |
| ISBN | 0-231-04334-1 |
Play and Aggression: A Study of Rhesus Monkeys is a 1978 book about play in the rhesus macaque by the anthropologist Donald Symons. The book was well-received, and Symons was credited with providing a detailed and useful discussion of his subject.
Summary
Symons discussed aggressive play in the rhesus macaque, arguing that as a "structured and coherent activity, aggressive play has a design." Symons provided information about sex differences in play, and behaviors that he referred to as "playchasing" and "playfighting". He suggested that "the adaptive function of aggressive play is to practice, or rehearse, and thereby to perfect behaviors used in high-intensity intraspecific aggression and in predator avoidance." He critically evaluated objections to the hypothesis that specific skills are practiced in play, discussed the nature and adaptive significance of skill, reviewed the history of attempts to characterize and define play, and critically discussed the idea that the function of play is to produce novel behavior.[1]
Additionally, Symons compared human play to that of non-human animals, attempted to explain differences in play between male and female rhesus macaques in terms of reproductive strategies, and argued that human warfare and animal fighting, as well as the developmental processes upon which they are based, are not homologous.[2]
Reception
Play and Aggression was reviewed by James Loy in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology,[3] Susan C. Wilson in Aggressive Behavior,[4] and John D. Baldwin in American Anthropologist.[5] Wilson reviewed the book positively, writing that it could be read for pleasure and that Symons convincingly argued that the "play-fighting of young rhesus monkeys is designed as practice for certain skills used by adults during fights." However, Wilson criticized Symons for making claims about play in general based only on the example of play in the rhesus macaque.[4] Baldwin credited Symons with providing a "detailed description of play in rhesus monkeys", and suggested that "many readers will find Symons’ description of rhesus play in a seminatural environment to be very useful", but added that many might conclude that Symons "overemphasizes the practice-for-violence hypothesis" and is "too eager to reject the other functions of play, such as general learning, practice for other activities, and innovation."[5]
In 1980, the psychologists Martin Daly and Margo Wilson wrote in The Sciences that Symons' "well-received" monograph is the work he is best known for.[6]
References
Footnotes
- ↑ Symons 1978. pp. 10-11.
- ↑ Symons 1978. p. 11.
- ↑ Loy 1979.
- 1 2 Wilson 1979. p. 85-87.
- 1 2 Baldwin 1979.
- ↑ Daly 1980. p. 22-24.
Bibliography
- Books
- Symons, Donald (1978). Play and Aggression: A Study of Rhesus Monkeys. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04334-1.
- Journals
- Daly, Martin; Wilson, Margo (1980). "Male and Female". The Sciences. 20 (3). – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
- Wilson, Susan C. (1979). "Book Review: Play and aggression, by donald symons". Aggressive Behavior. 5 (1). – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
- Online articles
- Baldwin, John D. "Book reviews: Physical Anthropology: Play and Aggression". Retrieved 2017-01-22.
- Loy, James. "Book Review: Play and aggression: A study of rhesus monkeys". Retrieved 2017-01-22.