Evolutionary Psychology and Violence: A Primer for Policymakers and Public Policy Advocates (Psychological Dimensions to War and Peace)

305 Pages·2003·1.02 MB·English

by  Richard W. Bloom

EVOLUTIONARY
PSYCHOLOGY AND
VIOLENCE
A Primer for Policymakers and
Public Policy Advocates
Edited by
Richard W. Bloom and Nancy Dess
Foreword by Joseph Graves, Jr.
PsychologicalDimensionstoWarandPeace
HarveyLangholtz,SeriesEditor

EVOLUTIONARY
PSYCHOLOGY
AND
VIOLENCE
RecentTitlesin
PsychologicalDimensionstoWarandPeace
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RachelM.MacNair
MemoryPerceived:RecallingtheHolocaust
RobertN.Kraft
EVOLUTIONARY
PSYCHOLOGY AND
VIOLENCE
A Primer for Policymakers and
Public Policy Advocates
Edited by
Richard W. Bloom and Nancy Dess
Foreword by Joseph Graves, Jr.
PsychologicalDimensionstoWarandPeace
HarveyLangholtz,SeriesEditor
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Evolutionarypsychologyandviolence:aprimerforpolicymakersandpublicpolicy
advocates/editedbyRichardW.BloomandNancyDess;forewordbyJosephGraves,Jr.
p.cm.—(Psychologicaldimensionstowarandpeace,ISSN1540–5265)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–275–97467–7(alk.paper)
1.Violence—Psychologicalaspects. 2.Socialconflict—Psychological
aspects. 3.Geneticpsychology. 4.Violence—Governmentpolicy. 5.Social
conflict—Governmentpolicy. I.Bloom,RichardW.,1944– II.Dess,Nancy
Kimberly. III.Series.
HM1116.E962003
303.6—dc21 2002072821
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright(cid:1)2003byRichardW.BloomandNancyDess
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2002072821
ISBN:0–275–97467–7
ISSN:1540–5265
Firstpublishedin2003
PraegerPublishers,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.praeger.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
ForewordbyJosephGraves,Jr. vii
Preface xi
1. TheEvolutionofScientificPsychologyandPublicPolicy:On
ViolenceandItsAntidotes 1
RichardW.Bloom
2. TheSocialImplicationsofEvolutionaryPsychology:LinkingBrain
Biochemistry,Toxins,andViolentCrime 23
RogerD.Masters
3. PsychopathyasanAdaptation:ImplicationsforSocietyandSocial
Policy 57
StuartKinner
4. CombatingRape:ViewsofanEvolutionaryPsychologist 83
LindaMealey
5. Homicide:AnEvolutionaryPsychologicalPerspectiveand
ImplicationsforPublicPolicy 115
DavidM.BussandJoshuaD.Duntley
6. FearofDeathandSocialBehavior:TheAnatomyofHuman
Destructiveness 129
SheldonSolomon,JeffGreenberg,andTomPyszczynski
7. AnEvolutionaryPerspectiveonInterculturalConflict:Basic
MechanismsandImplicationsforImmigrationPolicy 157
HaroldD.FishbeinandNancyDess
8. GlobalConflictResolution:AnAnthropologicalDiagnosisof
ProblemswithWorldGovernance 203
ChristopherBoehm
vi Contents
9. ViolenceandItsAntidotes:PromisesandPitfallsofEvolutionarily
AwarePolicyDevelopment 239
NancyDess
Index 269
AbouttheEditorsandContributors 285
Foreword
CharlesDarwinchangedourviewofthehumananimalforeverwhenhepub-
lishedTheOriginofSpeciesin1859andTheDescentofManin1871.Inthese
works Darwin demonstrated that natural selection had played a decisive role
in the origin of new species. An inescapable conclusion of this work wasthat
the human species had been shaped morphologically and behaviorally by the
samebasicmechanism.Yet90yearslateronecouldstillreadpsychologytext-
booksthatmadenomentionofDarwinorevolutionarytheorywhendiscussing
topics such as human aggression, violence, prejudice, or why people are at-
tractedtoeachother.
The reason for thiswassimple. Many scholarsandthepublicdidnotwant
tohearwhatDarwinismhadtosayabouttopicssocentraltohumanexperience.
After hearing that humans were descended from apelike ancestors a contem-
porary of Darwin’s, Lady Ashley, was reported to have said, “Let’s hope it’s
not true; but if it is true, let’s hope that it does not become widely known.”
Thus,evolutionarytheorymetoppositionfromreligiousfundamentalistsfrom
theverybeginning.Religiousfundamentalistoppositionwascrucialinslowing
downthereceptionofevolutionaryreasoningintheUnitedStates.Evenaswe
beginthenewmillennium,theteachingofevolutionarybiologyinthepublic
schools is still under assault by creationists under the guise of “intelligent
designtheory.”
However,notalloppositiontoevolutionarybiologycamefromunreasonable
quarters. Part of the rejection of relevance of evolutionary theory to human
social affairs can be laid at the feet of evolutionists themselves. For example,
many prominent biologists supported reactionary social policies and utilized
evolutionarytheorytojustifythatsupport.Theworldalsohadtheopportunity
to see the implementation of some of the proscriptions of Social Darwinism
andeugenicsintheformofNaziracetheory.Theassociationofevolutionary
biology with the pseudoscience claims of these ideologies was also significant
in retarding the progress of the discipiline. Thus, there was a virtual absence
ofevolutionaryideasinpsychologyandsociologythroughoutthe1960s.