Just an Idea of War

A group of men’s blood were tested for levels of testosterone and oxytocin before playing a game of rugby against each other. After the game, it was found that these levels increased. The level of oxytocin increased because they were feeling cooperative when working together with their team mates, but the levels of testosterone also increased because they were feeling aggression towards their opponents.

These two opposing variables never cease to fascinate me because it seems like one can never do without the other, even though they are complete opposites (kind of like Batman and the Joker). It has also occurred to me that this may be a low-key example of how society functions and it is a way of analysing the components of war.

It is strange to compare chemicals in our brain to outbreaks of conflict and war, but it makes sense when you recognise that the levels of oxytocin and testosterone can be interpreted and boiled down to the ideas of love and hate respectively.

Think about it like this. In a war, opponents might be fighting against one another, but in each ‘team’ there must be peace, compromise and love.

It might be a dangerously pessimistic idea to suggest that there can never be love if there is no one to hate, but in terms of the simple rugby match, it makes sense. Applying this ideology to wars, it would be sensible to ponder that a society may be falling apart in chaos and disagreement within, but once given another community to disagree with, they are suddenly united.

But that still leaves us with the question: what if there was an imbalance between testosterone and oxytocin?

Sources:

http://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/marines-in-war.jpg