【阅读选择】War may be a natural expression of biological instinct and drives toward aggression in the human species. Natural impulses of anger, hostility, and territoriality (守卫地盘的天性) are expressed through acts of violence. These are all qualities that humans share with animals. Aggression is a kind of innate (天生的) survival mechanism, an instinct for self-preservation, that allows animals to defend themselves from threats to their existence. But, on the other hand, human violence shows evidence of being a learned behavior. In the case of human aggression, violence can not be simply reduced to an instinct. The many expressions of human violence are always conditioned by social conventions that give shape to aggressive behavior. In human societies violence has a social function: It is a strategy for creating or destroying forms of social order. Religious traditions have taken a leading role in directing the powers of violence. We will look at the ritual and ethical (道德上的) patterns within which human violence has been directed.
Human violence shows evidence of being a learned behavior in that ______.