Evolutionary Psychology and Violence: A Primer for Policymakers and Public Policy Advocates (Psychological Dimensions to War and Peace) PDF
Preview Evolutionary Psychology and Violence: A Primer for Policymakers and Public Policy Advocates (Psychological Dimensions to War and Peace)
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 Perpetration-InducedTraumaticStress:ThePsychologicalConsequencesofKilling 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.
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