Essay on conflict, aggressivity and punishment

Conflict is a crucial force that shapes the world. If, at a group level, conflict is able to shape allocations of power and re- sources, often changing the equilibrium between two groups, at the individual level, conflict affects social interactions, prim- ing aggressive and hostile behaviors that disrupt cooperation. In this Doctoral Thesis, we take a theoretical evolutionary perspective, as well as an experimental one, to investigate how conflict affects different aspects of socially relevant be- haviors. In the first chapter, using an evolutionary perspec- tive, we explore the implications of different relationships be- tween power and initiation of conflicts for the long-run dis- tribution of power between groups. The second chapter de- scribes two experiments in which we demonstrate that ag- gressive behavior is more likely to happen after extreme ex- tension of self-control, with parallel appearances of signs of functional fatigue in areas of the prefrontal cortex implied in emotional and impulsive regulation. Finally, the last chapter describes a theoretical model in which a community enforce- ment system that uses social norms supports both pro-norm and anti-norm punishment as evolutionary stable.