SCI/TECH: Study shows Humans are Programmed to Murder

After years of research, Professor David Buss of the University of Texas has concluded that 'Humans are programmed to murder' and that '...we all have the ability to commit murder'.



Professor David Buss argues that 91% of men and 84% of women have had fantasies about murdering someone. This is a direct contrast to what the sociological paradigm that murdering is a direct influence on child abuse, the media or environment. Professor David Buss' book draws upon 375 murder cases and nearly one hundred interviews with convicted killers.

This is why we have no hope for the human race. we all going to kill each other soon, starting with WWIII.

Hmmm, a professor who has a book to 'market' based on a hypothetical...

Sanc'.

i don't see why this would shock anyone.

humans are animals; we just have a few extra cognitive faculties. of course we can kill. it's in our blood, and it has been necessary for every race preceding us on earth.

one could argue that it is necessary for us, in fact. where would humanity be if we had never fought a war?

I am amazed that this takes a study. Anyone ever see the movie 28 Days Later? In the end of the movie the main character is driven to kill these men because they were threatening to rape the women. Under the right conditions ANYONE has the capability to commit murder.
It just depends on the condition and maybe that's worth a study don't know.
All I know is that if my child were being threatened or hurt by another human being, NO DOUBT about it I could kill the person hurting him.

I am amazed that this takes a study. Anyone ever see the movie 28 Days Later? In the end of the movie the main character is driven to kill these men because they were threatening to rape the women.

way to go.... maybe some have not had a chance to watch this yet ?

David Buss

David Buss is Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas. He has also worked at Harvard University and the University of Michigan.

His research interests include the evolutionary psychology of human mating strategies, conflict between the sexes, prestige, status, and reputation, jealousy, and social relationships, including coalitions and dyadic friendships.

David Buss is on the Board of Directors for the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID), and is director of the International Consortium of Social and Personality Psychologists which conducts collaborative cross-cultural research. He is author of The Evolution of Desire and of Evolutionary Psychology - the New Science of the Mind, amongst other popular titles.

David Buss

This was an interesting result when i button clicked David Buss in the above link.

Sanc'.

I'm sorry Elevate. I didn't mean to be a buzz kill about the ending. I was really just trying to make a point about what motivates someone to get to that point.

I understand...... actually I've already seen it

All ANIMALS have the instinct to kill, its all about staying alive.

I guess George Bush has an excuse now...

Hey you knew it was coming.

we are all born killers, in facts not killing is the rarity in my opinion, due to social engineering through religion and "civilizing" we've built in a mental blocks (morals ect.) and increasing social stigma which makes it harder for us to do so. I’m not saying it’s bad thing that we’ve done, we’re not living in a caves and fighting for our mere survival so the ability to kill without remorse is not needed as much as it once was but we are messing with some of the core programing of life and survival. If we had to survived with our modern day delicacies to life and death the human species wouldn’t have lasted long, I mean people are reluctant to kill bugs imagine having to survive in the wild with such sensibilities. We are a part of nature and killing is as big a part of nature as reproduction. In order for you to survive something has to die. We’ve done to ourselves the same thing we have done to certain breeds of dogs, breed out (in our case though jail and death penalty) and condition our abilities to cope with murder. We’ve breed some pretty tame and docile breeds of dogs and we’re on the way to doing it with ourselves with varying success. I mean i look at the peaceniks and pacifist and I wonder just how far they would get in life without our modern day nanny state proctecting and providing for them.

he is wrong...
not just a percent of men and women...ALL men and women can kill.

they just have to have the right stimulus.

it is our ability to overcome this emotional and primal instinct that allows us to live close together and develop close interpersonal relationships.

thus the animal has become a sentient being.
Horay for humans...
now we just have to elevate the social level to where we cull out the bozos that don't quite qualify as sentient or sane.

.
How is this news?

Is there someone out there who is not familiar with human history?

I just saw a pack of male chimps murder another male chimp on a nature program.

The capacity for murder runs quite deep. It's in our genes.
.

I agree 100% that every one is capable of murder.

Like mentioned before, if you saw some one threatening the life of your kids you wouldnt hesitate in killing them. I know I wouldnt.

[edit on 16/5/05 by subz]

but you dont see a bunch of pot-heads playing "highway jumprope"

What a vague theory.
Of course everyone has the ability in "the right circumstances".

That is far from everyone wants to kill however.

A very obvious and hardly stunning theory.

As for the fantasy part, is he on drugs? Or am I one of the few who isn't?

I've fantasized about killing a certain some one

[edit on 16/5/05 by subz]

I think we all have the urge and desire to kill others to a certain degree or another. What I think is artificially induced is way a large percent of people deal with murder, you know what I mean, the breakdowns and psychological trauma that a good percentage of people suffer from such actions even when fully justified. This is a direct result of social engineering and changing morals religious indoctrination as well as a long history of weeding out those who have a looser tendency for murder through incarceration/executions. This isn’t a bad thing really it’s a bystander of modern civilizations but we are changing/altering a core “programming” of life/survival much the way we have breed dogs to decrease their violent tendencies. But this is having some consequences in that we are loosing the ability to slowly to defend ourselves, each generation from the second war world is less and less fit for the realities of combat/war. I mean people are completely freaking out here over 1000 or so deaths; there could be greater losses in a single day in WW2 than what we’ve had in since 9/11 all put together in the war on terror. And a lot of soldiers and police officers suffer greater mental health problems from some of the more violent aspect of their jobs because of the indoctrination they received from birth about death/killing and violence in general.

If this keeps going the way it is, third world countries would be superiorly mentally equipped for the realities of combat than the US and other first world country’s populations to the realities of war. I had mention this in another thread, people in the US who grow up in some of the harsher ghettos and go through certain traumas in their life have better coping abilities and respond better to problems than those who have had a cushy/endowed lives and if we ever have to face any large scale conflict like ww2 again I don’t think we can guarantee that we’ll be able to step up to the plate like they did back then with hundreds of thousands of deaths. I may be ranting a little but I just hope that we don’t end up fully breeding out our more aggressive natures and to only regret in a not too distant future. I mean look at the growing number of pacifist and peaceniks who wouldn’t lift a finger to defend themselves in the gravest and critical of circumstances, I mean hour after 9-11 these people were asking for peace to reign and all that, they would have walked into the gas chambers if they would have been around in the 1940s. this is all good if we can turn 99 percent of the population into hippies but if say even 10% of the population keep their harsher skills intact they could take over and impose themselves on a numerically superior but sheepish population with no ability or inclination to defend themselves.

After years of research, Professor David Buss of the University of Texas has concluded that 'Humans are programmed to murder' and that '...we all have the ability to commit murder'.

Another psychologist goes off his rocker. Wake up people the man is just trying to sell his book There is not solid evidence to back up his claim it is just his opinion nothing more nothing less.