ABSTRACT
Chance (1988), an ethologist, distinguished between what he called “two antithetical types of social system with markedly different functional thrusts” (page 1). He called them the agonic mode and the hedonic mode. In the first, the primary concern is with survival and security. The organism is constantly on the alert. Information processing systems are designed to recognise, attend and respond to potential threat. In the second, there is more trust and the emphasis is upon mutual support. Because the organisms are released from a self-protective preoccupation, group members are able to give a free rein to intelligence and creativity and to developing systems of order in their thoughts and social relations. Chance considered both modes to be found in both animals and humans, but that the hedonic mode is commoner and more fully developed in humans. This explains why humans can be more contemplative.
