Meetings of the New York Psychoanalytic Society

November 21, 1961. A CONSIDERATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL FACTORS IN AGGRESSIVITY. Sydney G. Margolin, M.D.

The author investigated the Ute Indians on reservations in Colorado. Contrary to observable facts, these Utes believed that there was 'a sickness' in their tribe which was causing them to 'die out'. They were concerned about a high rate of alcoholism, apathy, neglect of family, 'bad feelings inside', loss of self-interest, and loss of their property. There was a high incidence of violent deaths due to accidents, infant mortality, and a number of psychosomatic conditions (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, malnutrition). Certain hypotheses concerning the origins of aggression in this tribe are made. An intensely aggressive genotype is suggested on the basis of thousands of years of living as nomadic hunters and food gatherers, a kind of life which puts a high premium on innate aggressiveness. This theory is re-enforced by those factors in such a society that influence the choice of a mate with similar aggressive tendencies. Finally, there are the phenotypical effects of their child-rearing practices that re-enforce innate aggressive drives (separation from the mother in the anal phase).

On the reservation an attempt has been made to change the Indians' culture into a sessile, food-producing, American middle-class Christian culture. This has been largely unsuccessful: no satisfactory identification with the conquering majority has occurred and all direct expression of aggression has been ruthlessly stifled. What is observed now are evidences of severe personal and social pathology which are the derivatives of aggression. The hypotheses concerning the origins of Ute aggression permit construction of experiments to test their validity. Such experiments (altering the child-rearing factor by varied foster-home placements, etc.) have been set up to study the way the aggression is modified. This and other studies being undertaken may help to throw light