Skip to main content
Log in

Human behaviour: Killer instincts

  • News Feature
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

What can evolution say about why humans kill - and about why we do so less than we used to? Dan Jones reports.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. Daly, M. & Wilson, M. Homicide (Aldine de Gruyter, New York, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Duntley, J. D. & Buss, D. M. in The Innate Mind (eds Carruthers, P., Laurence, S. & Stich, S.) 291–304 (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Sear, R. & Mace, R. Evol. Hum. Behav. 29, 1–18 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Archer, J. Rev. Gen. Psychol. 8, 291–322 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Davidson, R. J., Putnam, K. M. & Larson, C. L. Science 289, 591–594 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Raine, A., Buchsbaum, M. & LaCasse, L. Biol. Psychiatry 42, 495–508 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Raine, A. & Yang, Y. Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci. 1, 203–213 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Williams, J. M., Oehlert, G. W., Carlis, J. V. & Pusey, A. E. Anim. Behav. 68, 523–532 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Wrangham, R. W., Wilson, M. L. & Muller, M. N. Primates 47, 14–26 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Burbank, V. K. Hum. Nature 3, 251–277 (1992) .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Choi, J.-K. & Bowles, S. Science 318, 636–640 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Pinker, S. The New Republic 236, 18–21 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Eisner, M. Br. J. Criminol. 41, 618–638 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Additional information

Dan Jones is a freelance writer in Brighton, UK.

Related links

Related links

Related external links

Web focus on the chimp genome

Web focus on hominid evolution

Discover chimpanzees

Human security centre

The films of Stanley Kubrick

Dan Jones's blog

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jones, D. Human behaviour: Killer instincts. Nature 451, 512–515 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/451512a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/451512a

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Navigation