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Evolutionary psychologists: Crime is adaptive

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Further to “Astonishing: Guy grapples with nonsense of evo psych” ( = who on Earth sent all these clowns here?), we are now told that crime is an adaptive form of behaviour (not, of course, a moral choice):

Abstract
Criminality is highly costly to victims and their relatives, but often also to offenders. From an evolutionary viewpoint, criminal behavior may persist despite adverse consequences by providing offenders with fitness benefits as part of a successful alternative mating strategy. Specifically, criminal behavior may have evolved as a reproductive strategy based on low parental investment reflected in low commitment in reproductive relationships. We linked data from nationwide total population registers in Sweden to test if criminality is associated with reproductive success. Further, we used several different measures related to monogamy to determine the relation between criminal behavior and alternative mating tactics. Convicted criminal offenders had more children than individuals never convicted of a criminal offense. Criminal offenders also had more reproductive partners, were less often married, more likely to get remarried if ever married, and had more often contracted a sexually transmitted disease than non-offenders. Importantly, the increased reproductive success of criminals was explained by a fertility increase from having children with several different partners. We conclude that criminality appears to be adaptive in a contemporary industrialized country, and that this association can be explained by antisocial behavior being part of an adaptive alternative reproductive strategy.

Will the children of such persons be more likely to grow up and do well themselves?  The odds are against that in real life, which kind of puts a dent in the Darwinian adaptation thing.

Like we said to that prof who thinks there is something in evo psych: If you want to be taken seriously, lose the clowns.

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Comments
OT: The Afterlife Investigations: The Scole Experiment (FULL DOCUMENTARY) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWOklvH9Ph8bornagain77
June 27, 2014
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In any hunter-gatherer man-pack, a thief or cheat will be exiled, which is equivalent to a death sentence. Similarly, if any man-pack is identified by other man-packs as thieves or cheats, ALL of the other packs will refuse to associate with them. You have to get to at least villages before malicious individuals start being considered "heroes" in conflicts with other villages. So I'm just not seeing the "advantage" for selfish genes here. One of the primary reasons for exogamy, seeking wives and husbands outside your own village/pack, is to increase the number of FRIENDS (aka "relatives") that you can ask for help in tough times. And this is part of the great wisdom that the best place to store food when who have plenty is in your NEIGHBOR's belly. Stealing food ONCE can work. But you will never be OFFERED food again.mahuna
June 26, 2014
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It just boggles the mind that people don't take one look at these kinds of imbecilic stories and recognise it for what it is, codswallop.humbled
June 26, 2014
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Of related note: Church Divorce Rate Way Lower Than Anyone Thought - 6/23/2014 Excerpt: It's long been believed that half of America's marriages end in divorce and the problem is just as bad in the Church as the rest of the country. But when Harvard-trained researcher Shaunti Feldhahn tried to find the actual research to prove those points, she couldn't. It started her on an eight-year odyssey to find the actual facts.,,, In her book, The Good News About Marriage, Feldhahn lays out what she found during her eight years of investigating the complicated, complex divorce statistics. First, the divorce rate is way below 50 percent and much lower for those who attend church. Feldhahn estimates the overall divorce rate for the country is around 31 percent. The studies of people who regularly go to church all show a much lower divorce rate for them.,,, Feldhahn cited one example where a pastor tracked 143 couples who he had married. "It was 25, 27 years later. Less than 10 percent had been divorced," she stated.,,, For religious believers, if they'll be attentive to practice their faith with their spouse, they can almost double their odds of avoiding divorce. http://www.charismanews.com/us/44398-church-divorce-rate-way-lower-than-anyone-thoughtbornagain77
June 26, 2014
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Kleptomaniacs will pass along their selfish genes. Fact.ppolish
June 26, 2014
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This reminds me of the time an atheist said the following to me about my belief in God:
'Creatures inveterately wrong in their inductions have a pathetic but praiseworthy tendency to die before reproducing their kind.'
Yet I reminded him that the population for Christianity, and religion in general, was growing, whilst atheism is declining:
'Believers' gene' will spread religion , says academic - January 2011 Excerpt: The World Values Survey, which covered 82 nations from 1981 to 2004, found that adults who attended religious services more than once a week had 2.5 children on average; while those who went once a month had two; and those who never attended had 1.67. Prof Rowthorn wrote: "The more devout people are, the more children they are likely to have." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8252939/Believers-gene-will-spread-religion-says-academic.html Atheists a dying breed as nature 'favours faithful' - 2011 http://www.scilogs.eu/en/blog/biology-of-religion/2011-01-06/atheists-a-dying-breed-as-nature-favours-faithful-sunday-times-jan-02-2011-jonathan-leake-full-draft-version
Moreover, atheists have a lower retention rate than those who believe in God do:
Why do atheists have such a low retention rate? - July 2012 Excerpt: Only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults. This “retention rate” was the lowest among the 20 separate categories in the study. https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/why-do-atheists-have-such-a-low-retention-rate/ Decline of atheism in terms of global adherents is expected to accelerate http://www.conservapedia.com/Global_atheism#Decline_of_atheism_in_terms_of_global_adherents_is_expected_to_accelerate
In the following video, Dr. Keller states that, worldwide, Christianity is blooming profusely and the only place this is not so is primarily in Europe where the state sponsors (i.e. controls) the churches.
Tim Keller - Reason for God - The Veritas Forum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiWeohEBdPo
Further note:
Babies are born THEISTS - Dr. Olivera Petrovich - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rQKmye5_BQ Children are born believers in God, academic claims - Telegraph - November 2008 Excerpt: "The preponderance of scientific evidence for the past 10 years or so has shown that a lot more seems to be built into the natural development of children's minds than we once thought, including a predisposition to see the natural world as designed and purposeful and that some kind of intelligent being is behind that purpose," http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/3512686/Children-are-born-believers-in-God-academic-claims.html
bornagain77
June 26, 2014
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God help us all.....Andre
June 26, 2014
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I still suspect this ridiculous nonsense is in fact intended as a joke. It is the only way I can believe any competent person would entertain it.humbled
June 26, 2014
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