Psychology of gangs

gang violence in men

This article will attempt to explain the psychology of gangs and gang violence in men using the concept of a dominance hierarchy. Timmy, a boy of fifth grade, was eating lunch at school, relishing his delectable dish in the peace and quiet of the school’s dining hall.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jimmy and his friends

What women gain by withholding sex in a relationship

Evolution has rendered female sexuality more valuable than male sexuality. There are two major reasons behind this: First, human males produce huge quantities of sperm while females produce only a limited number of eggs. Second, human females invest much more in offspring than males. The result being that female sexuality is a scarce and much

Why do people go to war?

Why do people go to war? Why do humans engage in warfare at all? At first blush, engaging in warfare seems to make no evolutionary sense. After all, if survival and reproduction are our core needs, why would we ever want to engage in an activity where the chances of us getting killed are so high? To

Why are men more violent than women?

The bell rang, and the high school kids rushed out with vigor as if released from prison. As they were leaving their classrooms, boys and girls showed different kinds of behaviors. While the girls walked slowly and with grace, boys could be seen doing a number of thing,s such as kicking one another, tripping and hitting

Evolutionary benefits of aggression for men

This article will look at why physical aggression is so prevalent in men from an evolutionary perspective. Understanding the evolutionary benefits of aggression for men may provide insights into what circumstances trigger such behavior. But first, consider the following scenario: The boy was just fourteen and he had blood smeared all over the front of

Why are some people non-conformists?

Most people are conformists who conform to the social norms of their respective societies. After all, man is a social animal, right? Conforming to your social group helps you stay in the good books of your group members. And when you’re in the good books of your group members, they’re likely to help you and

Why do people want justice?

justice

To understand why justice is important, we first need to understand the evolution of the tendency in humans to form cooperative coalitions. This is because it’s this phenomenon only that gives rise to contexts in which we seek justice and revenge. So why do we form cooperative coalitions at all?Why do people come together and

Evolution of cooperation in humans

cooperation

Where does our tendency to cooperate come from?Is it natural for us to cooperate or is it the result of social learning? It’s tempting to think that we’re born as non-cooperative beasts that need to be tamed via education and learning. The whole idea of ‘human civilization’ revolves around the assumption that humans have somehow

Reciprocal altruism in psychology

reciprocal altruism for non-relatives

Reciprocal altruism or reciprocity in psychology is defined as the tendency of people to return favors. While reciprocal altruism is observed in kin relationships, it’s common in friendships. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that friendships and other non-kin relationships are based on reciprocal altruism. Consider the following scenario: It was the birthday of

Why do poor people have so many kids?

family

Why do poor people have so many kids while those higher up the social hierarchy tend to have fewer children? Numerous factors have come together to make the evolution of family possible in us homo sapiens. Typically, families evolve in the animal kingdom when individuals can increase their odds of reproductive success by staying close