Evolutionary Roots of the Sex Difference in the Prevalence of Severe Anti-Social Behavior: A Literature Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17140/PCSOJ-2-114Keywords:
Evolutionary theory, Anti-social behavior, Life-history frameworkAbstract
It has been well-established that males exceed females in the most severe manifestations of anti-social behavior. The biological and environmental causes of this sex difference has received considerable attention. However, the evolutionary roots of this behavior has received far less attention. This review presented the evolutionary perspective on the reasons for the sex difference in severe anti-social behavior utilizing a life-history framework approach which is a branch of evolutionary theory that addresses the way organisms allocate time and resources to the various activities that comprise their life cycle.
References
Tremblay R. Developmental origins of disruptive behavior problems: The ‘original sin’ hypothesis, epigenetics and their consequences for prevention. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2010; 51: 341-367. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02211.x
Eme R. Sex differences in the prevalence and expression of externalizing spectrum disorders. In: Beauchaine T, Hinshaw S, eds. Oxford Handbook of Externalizing Spectrum Disorders. New York, USA: Oxford University Press; 2016: 239-266.
Del Giudice M, Ellis B. Evolutionary foundations of devel-opmental psychopathology. In: Cicchetti D, ed. Developmental Psychopathology. 3rd ed. New York, USA: Wiley; 2016: 1-58.
Daly M. Interpersonal conflict and violence. In: Buss D, ed. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley; 2016: 669-683.
Eisner M, Malti T. Aggressive and violent behavior. In: Lamb M, Lerner R, eds. Handbook of Child Psychology and Develop-mental Science. 7th ed. New York, USA: Wiley; 2016: 795-841.
Byrd-Craven J, Geary D. An evolutionary understanding of sex differences. In: Ryan M, Branscombe N, eds. The Sage Handbook of Gender and Psychology. New York, USA: Sage Publications; 2013: 100-114.
Leckman J. Understanding developmental psychopathology: How useful are evolutionary perspectives. In: Cicchetti D, ed. Developmental Psychopathology. 3rd ed. New York, USA: Wi-ley; 2016: 138-165.
Russell M, Robins S, Odgers C. Developmental perspectives: Sex difference in anti-social behavior from childhood to adult-hood. In: Gartner R, McCarthy B, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Crime. New York, USA: Oxford University Press; 2014.
Frankenhuis W, Del Giudice M. When do adaptive develop-mental mechanisms yield maladaptive outcomes? Dev Psychol. 2012; 48: 628-642. doi: 10.1037/a0025629
Del Giudice M. An evolutionary life-history framework for psychopathology. Psychol Inq. 2014; 25: 261-300. doi: 10.1080/1047840X.2014.884918
Del Giudice M. A tower unto heaven: Toward an expanded framework for psychopathology. Psychol Inq. 2014; 25: 393- 413. doi: 10.1080/1047840X.2014.925339
Geary D. Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differ-ences. 2nd ed. Washington, DC, USA: American Psychological Association; 2010.
Geary D. Evolution of vulnerability. New York, USA: Aca-demic Press; 2016.
Martel M. Sexual selection and sex differences in the preva-lence of childhood externalizing and adolescent internalizing disorder. Psychol Bull. 2013; 139: 1221-1259. doi: 10.1037/ a0032247
Martel M. Application of an integrated evolutionary psycho-logical framework to psychopathology. Psychol Inq. 2014; 25: 352-354. doi: 10.1080/1047840X.2014.897199
Campbell A. The evolutionary psychology of women’s ag-gression. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2013; 368(1631): 20130078. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0078
Campbell A, Cross C. Women and aggression. In: Shack-elford T, Weekes-Shackelford V, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Violence, Homicide, and War. New York, USA: Oxford University Press; 2012: 197-216.
Archer J. Does sexual selection explain human sex differ-ences in aggression? Behav Brain Sci. 2009; 32: 249-231. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X09990951
Kruger D, Fitzgerald C. Evolutionary perspectives on male-male competition, violence, and homicide. In: Shackelford T, Weekes-Shackelford V, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Evolu-tionary Perspective on Violence, Homicide, and War. New York, USA: Oxford University Press; 2012: 153-172.
Campbell A. Women’s competition and aggression. In: Buss D, ed. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. 2nd ed. Hobo-ken, NJ, USA: Wiley; 2016: 684-703.
Hinshaw S. Developmental psychopathology as a scientific discipline. In: Beauchaine T, Hinshaw S, eds. Child and Adoles-cent Psychopathology. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley; 2013: 3-28.
Da Silva D, Rijo D, Salekin R. The evolutionary roots of psychopathy. Aggress Violent Behav. 2015; 21: 85-96. doi: 10.1016/j.avb.2015.01.006
Leckman J. Understanding developmental psychopathology: How useful are evolutionary perspectives. In: Cicchetti D, ed. Developmental Psychopathology. 3rd ed. New York, USA: Wi-ley; 2016: 138-165.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All content published in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (PCS) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license allows anyone to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work — including for commercial purposes — provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source.
