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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