Lynn's r/k selection theory of criminality revisited: Consideration of individual differences and developmental life history contributions to the patterning of population differences in antagonistic social strategies

Tomás Cabeza de Baca and Michael Anthony Woodley of Menie

Journal of Criminal Justice, 2018, vol. 59, issue C, 87-91

Abstract: We revisit an old theory proposed by Lynn, connecting race differences in criminality and psychopathy with r/k selection. The origin of this group-difference is attributed to cold-selection in the Pleistocene. We contend that newer models of Life History Theory provide a better rubric within which to evaluate Lynn's arguments as a) they better account for the adaptive logic of the coherence pattern among the traits characteristic of so-called ‘psychopathic personality’, b) provide a normatively free language with which group differences in behavior can be described, and c) make predictions at the level of both the individual and intra-individual (developmental) levels, which permit the role of environmental contributions to these dispositions to be better comprehended. Thus newer approaches to understanding life history are necessarily more empirically nuanced. We also consider the merits of future, more systematic studies along the lines of Lynn's contribution.

Keywords: Life history theory; Evolutionary psychology; Psychopathology; Criminality; Population differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:59:y:2018:i:c:p:87-91

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.05.009

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