The Evolution of Violence

This volume is an interdisciplinary exploration of our understanding of the causes and consequences of violence. Represented in its chapters are noted scholars from a variety of fields including psychology, anthropology, law, and literature. The contributions reflect a broad scope of inquiry and diverse levels of analysis. With an underlying evolutionary theme each of the contributors invoke their separate areas of expertise, offering empirical and theoretical insights to this complex subject. The multi-faceted aspect of the book is meant to engender new perspectives that will synthesize current knowledge and lead to a more nuanced understanding of an ever timely issue in human behavior. Of additional interest, is a foreword written by world renowned psychologist, Steven Pinker, and an afterword by noted evolutionary scholar, Richard Dawkins.

Todd K. Shackelford received his Ph.D. in evolutionary psychology in 1997 from the University of Texas–Austin, his M.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1995, and his B.A. in psychology from the University of New Mexico in 1993. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Oakland University (http://www.oakland.edu/psychology) in Rochester, Michigan, where he is Co-Director of the Evolutionary Psychology Lab (www.ToddKShackelford.com). He led the founding of new Ph.D. and M.S. programs (http://www.oakland.edu/psychology/grad/), which launched in 2012. Shackelford has published over 280 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and has edited 10 volumes, and his work has been cited over 7,500 times. Much of Shackelford’s research addresses sexual conflict between men and women, with a special focus on testing hypotheses derived from sperm competition theory. Since 2006, Shackelford has served as editor of Evolutionary Psychology (www.epjournal.net).

Ranald D. Hansen is a Professor of Psychology at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He also serves as the CEO of Innovation Emporium, Inc., a company focused on knowledge management, creating sustainable industry-university partnerships, and educational environment optimization. His research in cognitive science and psychophysiology has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. A significant portion of this work was directed toward developing a model derived from an evolutionary science perspective for integrating emotive and cognitive processes. In the past decade he has participated in creating multiple regional innovation drivers, including technology accelerators and innovation zones.