Play and Aggression

Short description: 1978 book by Donald Symons

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| 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.

## Contents

* 1 Summary
* 2 Reception
* 3 References
* 3.1 Bibliography

## Summary

Symons discusses aggressive play in the rhesus macaque, arguing that as a "structured and coherent activity, aggressive play has a design." Symons provides information about sex differences in play, and behaviors that he refers to as "playchasing" and "playfighting". He suggests 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 evaluates objections to the hypothesis that specific skills are practiced in play, discusses the nature and adaptive significance of skill, reviews the history of attempts to characterize and define play, and critically discusses the idea that the function of play is to produce novel behavior.[1]

Additionally, Symons compares 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 argues 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 received a positive review from Susan C. Wilson in Aggressive Behavior and a mixed review from John D. Baldwin in American Anthropologist.[3][4] The book was also reviewed by James Loy in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.[5]

Wilson wrote that the book 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, she criticized Symons for making claims about play in general based only on the example of play in the rhesus macaque.[3] 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."[4]

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

1. ↑ Symons 1978, pp. 10–11.
2. ↑ Symons 1978, p. 11.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wilson 1979, pp. 85–87.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Baldwin 1979, pp. 126–127.
5. ↑ Loy 1979, pp. 140–141.
6. ↑ Daly & Wilson 1980, pp. 22–24.

### Bibliography

Books

* Symons, Donald (1978). Play and Aggression: A Study of Rhesus Monkeys. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04334-2.

Journals

Online articles

* Baldwin, John D. (1979). "Book reviews: Physical Anthropology: Play and Aggression". American Anthropologist 81 (1): 126–127. doi:10.1525/aa.1979.81.1.02a00310.
* Loy, James (1979). "Book Review: Play and aggression: A study of rhesus monkeys". American Journal of Physical Anthropology 50 (1): 140–141. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330500117.

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