The Evolution of Violence

by Todd K. Shackelford (Editor), Ranald D. Hansen (Editor)

Overview

This volume is an interdisciplinary exploration of our understanding of the causes and consequences of violence. Represented in its chapters are noted scholars from a variety of fields including psychology, anthropology, law, and literature. The contributions reflect a broad scope of inquiry and diverse levels of analysis. With an underlying evolutionary theme each of the contributors invoke their separate areas of expertise, offering empirical and theoretical insights to this complex subject. The multi-faceted aspect of the book is meant to engender new perspectives that will synthesize current knowledge and lead to a more nuanced understanding of an ever timely issue in human behavior. Of additional interest, is a foreword written by world renowned psychologist, Steven Pinker, and an afterword by noted evolutionary scholar, Richard Dawkins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461493143
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	11/09/2013
Series:	Evolutionary Psychology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	244
File size:	579 KB

About the Author

Todd K. Shackelford received his Ph.D. in evolutionary psychology in 1997 from the University of Texas–Austin, his M.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1995, and his B.A. in psychology from the University of New Mexico in 1993. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Oakland University (http://www.oakland.edu/psychology) in Rochester, Michigan, where he is Co-Director of the Evolutionary Psychology Lab (www.ToddKShackelford.com). He led the founding of new Ph.D. and M.S. programs (http://www.oakland.edu/psychology/grad/), which launched in 2012. Shackelford has published over 280 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and has edited 10 volumes, and his work has been cited over 7,500 times. Much of Shackelford’s research addresses sexual conflict between men and women, with a special focus on testing hypotheses derived from sperm competition theory. Since 2006, Shackelford has served as editor of Evolutionary Psychology (www.epjournal.net).

Ranald D. Hansen is a Professor of Psychology at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He also serves as the CEO of Innovation Emporium, Inc., a company focused on knowledge management, creating sustainable industry-university partnerships, and educational environment optimization. His research in cognitive science and psychophysiology has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. A significant portion of this work was directed toward developing a model derived from an evolutionary science perspective for integrating emotive and cognitive processes. In the past decade he has participated in creating multiple regional innovation drivers, including technology accelerators and innovation zones.

Table of Contents

Intimate Partner Violence in Evolutionary Perspective.- War Before Civilization – 15 Years On.- Violence in Literature: An Evolutionary Perspective.- Evolutionary Perspectives on Child Welfare Law.- Warfare and Human Nature.- Sexual Selection and the Psychology of Intergroup Conflict.- Evolutionary Behavioral Genetics of Violent Crime.- The Evolutionary Psychology of Sibling Conflict and Siblicide.- Aggression Grows Up: Looking Through an Evolutionary Developmental Lens to Understand the Causes and Consequences of Human Aggression.- Adaptation and Coherence: Evolutionary and Dynamical Perspectives on Human Violence.- Violence and Aggression in Women.

Editorial Reviews

"This collection represents the scientific and intellectual richness of the contemporary understanding of violence from an evolutionary perspective, and amply demonstrates why an understanding of the biological roots of violence (and nonviolence) is indispensable to our species’ attempt to reduce it."
Steven Pinker

From the Publisher