# Execution Hypothesis **Domain:** Human evolution and punishment **Doc Type:** Developed Hypothesis Node **Maturity:** Developed **Collection:** [[collections/Gamification|Gamification Collection]] ## Definition The **execution hypothesis** proposes that language-enabled coalitions repeatedly killed or otherwise reproductively suppressed highly reactively aggressive would-be dominants, creating selection against reactive aggression in human populations. Wrangham presents this as one possible mechanism of human self-domestication. ## Significance The hypothesis is deliberately paradoxical: proactive coalitionary aggression may have selected for lower reactive aggression. It links punishment, conspiracy, norm enforcement, and state violence without treating them as morally equivalent. ## Evidence boundary Deep evolutionary mechanisms cannot be directly observed. Cross-cultural punishment, comparative primate evidence, and domestication traits support inquiry but do not close the causal case. ## Sources - Richard Wrangham, [Targeted conspiratorial killing and human self-domestication](https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2019.20) ## Routes [[wiki/Human Self-Domestication|Human Self-Domestication]] · [[wiki/Reactive vs. Proactive Aggression|Reactive vs. Proactive Aggression]] · [[wiki/Coalitionary Aggression|Coalitionary Aggression]]