Obligate Siblicide

What is obligate siblicide?
Obligate siblicide is a natural tendency of some species to kill a sibling—either directly or by ignoring. Some species, like the Blue-footed Booby, have been documented to engage in this sort of behaviour. It is purported to be a mechanism of survival of the survivor.

Do Humans Engage in Obligate Siblicide?
Biblically, this form of siblicide is demonstrated in the Cain and Able story. This is obviously and tautologically siblicide, but is it obligate siblicide? This is open to debate, but a more insidious manifestation arrives in a form of psychological obligate siblicide.

What Is Psychological Obligate Siblicide?
When I use the phrase psychological obligate siblicide, I mean where this does not involve physical killing, rather it envokes feelings of this in the "victim"—the black sheep, the outcast.

To be continued...


psychology