Cultural beliefs about supernatural punishment can suppress aggression into adulthood

Evidence

From an early age, Tahitians were taught to fear the consequences of anger arousal and aggressive actions. They claimed that anger had toxic effects on the body and therefore was best avoided. If provoked, Tahitians believed that their spoken threats aroused ancestral spirits who could hurt the provocateur. Anticipated adverse consequences fostered conciliatory behavior, even in highly irritating situations. Although parents initially permitted mock aggressiveness in young children, they strongly discouraged hurtful actions and prolonged anger. Control of aggression was largely achieved by threats of punishment, especially through the action of spirits who punished aggressors by causing illnesses and other harmful outcomes. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 169

Categorization

• XREF: Parallel to Milgrom’s law-merchant finding that belief in effective sanctions shapes behavior; also a cultural substrate for how societies control harmful conduct without central enforcement. — connects to: A tradition of aggression normalizes renewed group violence — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 104; Third-party punishment can stabilize any cultural trait within a group — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 117
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 169