Plausibility of Adaptations

1 Introduction

People kill other people in every known culture around the world. The question is why. This chapter presents a new theory of homicide, Homicide Adaptation Theory, which proposes that humans evolved adaptations to facilitate killing. The new theory is contrasted with two competing conceptions of why people kill: The Byproduct Hypothesis and the Evolved Goal Hypothesis. Prior to presenting these competing views of homicide, we discuss the concept of “innateness” in relation to our conception of evolved homicide adaptations. 2 The Concept of Innateness from the perspective of Evolutionary Psychology The term “innateness” is used to refer to many different phenomena (see Elman, Johnson, & Bates, 1996). Our conceptualization of innateness falls in line with the standard definition used by evolutionary psychologists and biologists when referring to any adaptation. Selection has shaped the genes that pattern human ontogeny. These genes provide the blueprint for the development of... ...