Evolutionary Psychology & Violence

Context & Scope

  • Lecturer’s goal: Examine criminal behaviors (violence, property crime, sexual crime) through an evolutionary-psychology lens.
  • Focus of this segment = Violence (property & sexual crime merely introduced).
  • Key question: If violence is part of human nature, under what specific conditions is it expressed and how were those conditions adaptive in ancestral environments?

Universality of Human Violence

  • Humans described as an “extraordinarily violent species.”
    • Evidence offered: constant news reports of wars, assaults, murders.
  • Violence clearly predates modern variables (e.g., video games, mass media).
    • Example: Some of the most violent societies today are small, isolated tribal groups in South America that have never encountered video games.
  • Critique of contemporary theories:
    • Many sociological / psychological explanations are historically parochial—they blame local contemporary factors while ignoring deep-time universality.

Evolutionary-Psychology Framework

  • Evolutionary psychologists do not claim violence is random or constant; rather, it is conditional and strategic.
  • Violence evolves if it helps pass on genes. Main adaptive functions (3-part model):
    1. Accruing & Maintaining Resources
    2. Gaining & Displaying Status
    3. Securing Mates & Preventing Infidelity

Function 1 – Resources

  • In ancestral environments (≈100,000 years ago):
    • No formal laws / police.
    • If Person A owned a desirable item, Person B’s violence could directly obtain it.
    • Physical strength = survival and resource-acquisition strategy.

Function 2 – Status Within the Group

  • Small hunter-gatherer bands reward formidability:
    • The toughest, fiercest individuals often achieved highest social rank.
    • Status translated into privileged access to food, protection, alliances.
  • Empirical note: A cited (though unnamed) anthropological study found strong positive correlation between a man’s tribal status and his reputation as a warrior.

Function 3 – Mating Opportunities & Infidelity Prevention

  • Violence can (sadly) be a tool for sexual coercion and mate guarding.
    • Historical example: Absence of “woke” norms; force could be used with impunity.
    • Comparative evidence: Chimpanzee communities show forced copulations and group rapes, illustrating ancestral parallels.
    • Benefits to aggressor: Increases number of mates, blocks rivals from mating with current partner.

Key Takeaways

  • Violence is not purely a by-product of modern society; it is an adaptation that historically yielded fitness benefits.
  • Modern legal systems & moral norms now make many ancestrally adaptive violent acts maladaptive (i.e., criminal).
  • Studying the evolved functions clarifies why violence surfaces in predictable contexts (resource competition, status disputes, sexual rivalry).
  • Upcoming sections will apply similar evolutionary reasoning to property crime and sexual crime, exploring how each may have once served adaptive goals but conflicts with modern social/legal systems.