The material culture of homicidal fantasies

Abstract

A descriptive study was conducted of normal undergraduate students' impulsive homicidal thoughts and the weapons used in these fantasies. Participants completed a questionnaire asking them to describe a recent incident in which they thought about killing someone. A significant proportion of participants reported having homicidal fantasies. Most fantasies were elicited by frustrating or threatening interpersonal events and involved material‐cultural weapons (e.g., firearms, knives, clubs) as opposed to organismic weapons (e.g., hands, feet). Material‐cultural weapons were rated as easier to use and more lethal than organismic weapons, and participants reported higher self‐efficacy beliefs for using material‐cultural weapons. Most participants reported that they had been exposed to mass media models using their weapons of choice and that they had access to these weapons. The findings are interpreted as evidence for evolved psychological machinery that can associate material‐cultural implements with aggressive behavior and rehearse this association through fantasy. Aggr. Behav. 26:225–234, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Validation of the English Language Version of the Violent Ideations Scale

“…The results are consistent with previous research, indicating that VI are common (Crabb, 2000), with 69.6% of participants in the present study reporting that they had experienced at least one of the VI included on the VIS, compared with 60% in the study by Murray et al (2016). These figures highlight the need for a better understanding of the link between those who experience VI and those who commit violence.…”

Sex Differences in Homicidal Fantasies among Finnish University Students

“…In general, the results complied with the results of earlier studies (Kenrick & Sheets, 1993;Crabb, 2000) and didn't offer big surprises. As hypothesized, males reported homicidal fantasies more frequently than females and male fantasies were targeted more often towards strangers, whereas female fantasies connected to closer relationships.…”

“…Questions on homicidal fantasies were formulated based on previous studies (Crabb, 2000;Kenrick & Sheets, 1993). The definition of homicidal fantasies was given at the beginning of questionnaire: "by homicidal fantasy or thought is meant in this connection physical violence, such as hitting, pushing and killing".…”

“…More specifically, previous research on homicidal fantasies have focused on the contents of the fantasies, situations in which they arise, triggers, the method of killing, or the real violent act associated with the homicidal fantasy (Crabb, 2000;Duntley, 2005;Grisso et al, 2000;Kenrick & Sheets, 1993), especially in psychiatric patients (Grisso et al, 2000), but not specifically between sexes, emotional reactions and in normal populations. Homicidal fantasies are considered a relatively normal phenomenon rooted in the evolutionary history of humans (Crabb, 2000). According to the evolutionary perspective, homicidal fantasies represent one end of a continuum, the other end of which is actual homicides (Buss & Shackelford, 1997;Daly & Wilson, 1988).…”

“…Men report using a greater variety of weapons in their fantasies compared to women (Kenrick & Sheets, 1993). Crabb (2000) has suggested that the weapons that are represented in imagined homicides reflect those that are widely publicized in the mass media and are easily available.…”