Evolutionary and Genetic Explanations of Violent Crime

Gottschalk, Martin; Ellis, Lee M.

doi:10.4135/9781483349305.n4

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Although they observe that aggressive behavior risks retaliation, injury, disapproval, or other adverse outcomes, in some situations, the risk of not being aggressive can be higher than that of being aggressive. Ferguson and Beaver (2009) further posit, following Gottschalk and Ellis’s (2009) summary of evolutionary concepts regarding violence, that males engage in greater levels of aggression because of greater sexual competition. Sexual selection theory argues that when making mating decisions, both sexes consider costs and benefits of the choice.…”

Section: Evolutionary Approach To Same- and Opposite-sex Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Women select men who possess traits that would provide resources and assistance. Thus, based on Gottschalk and Ellis’s (2009) assumptions, men should be less aggressive and probably also more prosocial toward women than toward men. Considering this theoretical argument, women’s aggression should be lower than men’s, but the question remains—would it be equally low in same- and opposite-sex contexts?…”

Section: Evolutionary Approach To Same- and Opposite-sex Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

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Aggression and Helping as Responses to Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Rejection in Men and Women

2018

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Research shows that interpersonal rejection increases aggression and decreases helping toward the rejecter. Based on the assumptions of the evolutionary approach, it was hypothesized that aggression would be higher and helping would be lower after rejection by a same-sex rather than an opposite-sex other. Moreover, it was predicted that the effect for aggression would be stronger in men, and the effect for helping would be stronger in women. Participants ( N = 100) were rejected or accepted by a same- or opposite-sex person, and later aggression and helping were measured using the tangram Help-Hurt task. The major finding was that same-sex rejection resulted in more aggression and less helping than opposite-sex rejection, but the rejectee's sex did not moderate the effect. Instead, men were more aggressive and less helping independently of condition. Along with the sexual exchange theory, more negative behavior in same-sex rejection could be interpreted as raised in-group sexual competitive tendencies, whereas less negative behavior in opposite-sex rejection could result from the motivation to exchange resources between men and women.

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Section: Evolutionary Approach To Same- and Opposite-sex Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evolutionary Approach To Same- and Opposite-sex Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Aggression and Helping as Responses to Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Rejection in Men and Women

2018

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“…The urgent need to develop effective strategies for the prevention of criminal violence has recently given impetus to new research efforts aimed at identifying its psychobiological causes. These investigations have revealed that the propensity towards criminal violence is underpinned by a complex interplay of genetic and socio-environmental factors (Rhee and Waldman, 2002; Gottschalk and Ellis, 2009); the exact nature of these interactions, however, remains poorly understood, also in consideration of the ethical, legal and logistic concerns raised by genetic studies in criminal offenders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of low-activity MAOA allelic variants with violent crime in incarcerated offenders

Stetler

Davis

Leavitt

et al. 2014

Journal of Psychiatric Research

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The main enzyme for serotonin degradation, monoamine oxidase (MAO) A, has recently emerged as a key biological factor in the predisposition to impulsive aggression. Male carriers of low-activity variants of the main functional polymorphism of the MAOA gene (MAOA-uVNTR) have been shown to exhibit a greater proclivity to engage in violent acts. Thus, we hypothesized that low-activity MAOA-uVNTR alleles may be associated with a higher risk for criminal violence among male offenders. To test this possibility, we analyzed the MAOA-uVNTR variants of violent (n=49) and non-violent (n=40) male Caucasian and African-American convicts in a correctional facility. All participants were also tested with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11) and Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) to assess their levels of childhood trauma exposure, impulsivity and aggression, respectively. Our results revealed a robust (P<0.0001) association between low-activity MAOA-uVNTR alleles and violent crime. This association was replicated in the group of Caucasian violent offenders (P<0.01), but reached only a marginal trend (P=0.08) in their African American counterparts. While violent crime charges were not associated with CTQ, BIS-11 and BPAQ scores, carriers of low-activity alleles exhibited a mild, yet significant (P<0.05) increase in BIS-11 total and attentional-impulsiveness scores. In summary, these findings support the role of MAOA gene as a prominent genetic determinant for criminal violence. Further studies are required to confirm these results in larger samples of inmates and evaluate potential interactions between MAOA alleles and environmental vulnerability factors.

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“…The subsequent decline in crime since the 1990s has generated almost as many speculative explanations, ranging from improved policing (Messner et al, 2007) to the Roe v. Wade theory, which speculates that the legalization of abortion resulted in the birth (or raising) of fewer antisocial children (Levitt & Dubner, 2005). Most scholars over the years have agreed that criminal behavior is difficult to explain in a compact and simple way, even with the best science available (Feshbach, 1971;Gottschalk & Ellis, 2010;Walsh & Ellis, 2007). This observation suggests that much research on the origins of criminal behavior might ultimately provide little guidance to policymakers about "what went wrong" during most of the latter part of the 20th century or "what went right" from the 1990s onward.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic, Maternal, School, Intelligence, and Media Use Predictors of Adult Criminality: A Longitudinal Test of the Catalyst Model in Adolescence through Early Adulthood

Ferguson

Ivory

Beaver

2013

Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma

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Evolutionary and Genetic Explanations of Violent Crime

Cited by 5 publications

References 57 publications

Aggression and Helping as Responses to Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Rejection in Men and Women

Aggression and Helping as Responses to Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Rejection in Men and Women

Association of low-activity MAOA allelic variants with violent crime in incarcerated offenders

Genetic, Maternal, School, Intelligence, and Media Use Predictors of Adult Criminality: A Longitudinal Test of the Catalyst Model in Adolescence through Early Adulthood

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