Reply #27: It is definately instinctual. [View All]

[Devils Advocate NZ]

You just have to look at the pervasiveness of this particular instinct - we are not the only animals that have it. From lions to chimps, this instinct is one of the most basic of all social animals.

You could argue that without this particular instinct, evolution couldn't have occured, becuase it is the basis of natural selection. When we talk about the strongest surviving one of the base reasons for this is the ability to ensure that your genes spread, and competing genes die out. This is accomplished among other things by battling competing groups, and either killing the females or taking them into your group. Thus the weaker male genes (the ones that lost the battle) no longer spread, and the stronger male genes spread further.

Every time you watch two males of any species fighting for the right to mate with a female, you are watching this instinct in action. The male that is already paired to the female is "protecting" her, while the unattached male is trying to seize her.

This is no different to what I am talking about. It manifests itself differently for us, and we don't even necessarily realise that we are doing it, but there is always that element in play.