Violence and Human Nature

The Seville Statement on Violence was drafted by an international committee of 20 scholars at the 6th International Colloquium on Brain and Aggression held at the University of Seville, Spain, in May 1986, with support from the Spanish Commission for UNESCO. The Statement's purpose is to dispel the widespread belief that human beings are inevitably disposed to war as a result of innate, biologically determined aggressive traits.

UNESCO adopted the Seville Statement at its 25th General Conference Session in Paris, October 17 to November 16, 1989. The Statement has been formally endorsed by scientific organizations and published in journals around the world. UNESCO is preparing a brochure to be used in teaching young people about the Statement.

In August 1987 the Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association voted to endorse the Seville Statement. The Board of Scientific Affairs emphasized that this is not a scientific statement on the issue of specific inherited behavioral traits. It is, rather, a social statement designed to eliminate unfounded stereotypic thinking on the inevitability of war

Some have seen it as an early salvo fired in the interest of worldwide political correctness, an anti-biological, anti-scientific statement of pious feel-good ideology. Both sides and more are presented here for your consideration. I would like to thank Gerald Beroldi for his assistance and cooperation.

• The Seville Statement on Violence - As published in the American Psychologist, October 1990, 45:10, 1167-1168.
  
• Critique of the Seville Statement on Violence - Gerald Beroldi's original Critique
  
• Critique of the Seville Statement on Violence - The shortened version published by the APA in the American Psychologist, October, 1994, 49:10, 847-848.