Definition
A person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of another’s behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill.
Introduction
Access to resources and mating opportunities determines the genetic fitness of an individual. Living in groups has meant that obtaining these resources is subject to the costs associated with competition and reciprocity, as well as resource acquisition. For these reasons, strategies that circumvent the need to compete or reciprocate by utilizing violence and intimidation to obtain resources and mating opportunities were selected for under some environmental conditions (Duntley 2015). Violence, like theft and other forms of social cheating, is a risky strategy but can minimize the costs involved in resource and mate acquisition. However, unlike cheating, violence not only confers resource and mating benefits but increases perceptions of physical dominance and...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Aktar, E., Majdandžić, M., de Vente, W., & Bögels, S. M. (2013). The interplay between expressed parental anxiety and infant behavioural inhibition predicts infant avoidance in a social referencing paradigm. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(2), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02601.x.
Ávila, M. E., Martínez-Ferrer, B., Vera, A., Bahena, A., & Musitu, G. (2016). Victimization, perception of insecurity, and changes in daily routines in Mexico. Revista de Saúde Pública, 50, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1518-8787.2016050006098.
Bisson, J. I., Cosgrove, S., Lewis, C., & Roberts, N. P. (2015). Post-traumatic stress disorder: Evolutionary perspectives. BMJ, 25(1), h6161. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h6161.
Blanchard, C. D., Hynd, A. L., Minke, K. A., Minemoto, T., & Blanchard, R. J. (2001). Human defensive behaviors to threat scenarios show parallels to fear- and anxiety-related defense patterns of non-human mammals. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 25(7–8), 761–770. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0149-7634(01)00056-2.
Boele, S., Sijtsema, J. J., Klimstra, T. A., Denissen, J. J. A., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2017). Person-group dissimilarity in personality and peer victimization. European Journal of Personality, 31(3), 220–233. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2105.
Bolstad, B. R., & Zinbarg, R. E. (1997). Sexual victimization, generalized perception of control, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11(5), 523–540. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(97)00028-5.
Book, A., Costello, K., & Camilleri, J. A. (2013). Psychopathy and victim selection: The use of gait as a cue to vulnerability. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 28(11), 2368–2383. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260512475315.
Boyer, P., & Bergstrom, B. (2011). Threat-detection in child development: An evolutionary perspective. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35(4), 1034–1041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.08.010.
Bröder, A., & Hohmann, N. (2003). Variations in risk taking behavior over the menstrual cycle. An improved replication. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(6), 391–398. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(03)00055-2.
Coyne, I., Seigne, E., & Randall, P. (2000). Predicting workplace victim status from personality. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 9(3), 335–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/135943200417957.
Davis, J. A., & Gallup, G. G. (2006). Preeclampsia and other pregnancy complications as an adaptive response to unfamiliar semen. In Female infidelity and paternal uncertainty: Evolutionary perspectives on male anti-cuckoldry tactics. (pp. 191–204). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617812.010.
Duntley, J. D. (2015). Adaptations to dangers from humans. In The handbook of evolutionary psychology (pp. 224–249). Hoboken: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470939376.ch8.
Duntley, J. D., & Shackelford, T. K. (2012). Adaptations to avoid victimization. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17(1), 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2011.09.008.
Fetchenhauer, D., & Rohde, P. A. (2002). Evolutionary personality psychology and victimology. Sex differences in risk attitudes and short-term orientation and their relation to sex differences in victimizations. Evolution and Human Behavior, 23(4), 233–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(01)00104-0.
Finkelhor, D., Ormrod, R. K., & Turner, H. A. (2007). Re-victimization patterns in a national longitudinal sample of children and youth. Child Abuse and Neglect, 31(5), 479–502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.03.012.
Frankenhuis, W. E., & Bijlstra, G. (2018). Does exposure to hostile environments predict enhanced emotion detection? Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.127.
Fulham, L., Book, A. S., Blais, J., Ritchie, M. B., Gauthier, N. Y., & Costello, K. (2017). The effect of hypervigilance on the relationship between sexual victimization and gait. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 088626051771371. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517713714.
Hogstedt, G. (2002). Adaptation unto death: Function of fear screams. The American Naturalist, 121(4), 562–570. https://doi.org/10.1086/284083.
Holmes, R. M., & Holmes, S. T. (2010). Serial murder (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/13300597?selectedversion=NBD43775834.
Lalande, K. M., & Bonanno, G. A. (2011). Retrospective memory bias for the frequency of potentially traumatic events: A prospective study. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(2), 165–170. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020847.
McCullough, M. E., Kurzban, R., & Tabak, B. A. (2013). Cognitive systems for revenge and forgiveness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X11002160.
McKibbin, W. F., & Shackelford, T. K. (2011). Women’s avoidance of rape. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16(5), 437–443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2011.03.010.
Mogg, K., Garner, M., & Bradley, B. P. (2007). Anxiety and orienting of gaze to angry and fearful faces. Biological Psychology, 76(3), 163–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.07.005.
Nesse, R. M., & Marks, I. M. (1994). Fear and fitness: An evolutionary analysis of anxiety disorders. Ethology and Sociobiology, 15(5–6), 247–261. https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(94)90002-7.
Ritchie, M. B. (2016). Telltale gait: The role of nonverbal cues in perceptions of personality and vulnerability. Charleton University Ottawa. https://doi.org/10.16242/j.cnki.umst.2014.04.005.
Sakaguchi, K., & Hasegawa, T. (2007). Personality correlates with frequency of being targeted for unexpected advances by strangers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(5), 948–968. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00194.x.
Thornhill, N. W., & Thornhill, R. (1990). An evolutionary analysis of psychological pain following rape. III: Effects of force and violence. Ethology and Sociobiology, 11(3), 155–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(90)90008-T.
von Dawans, B., Fischbacher, U., Kirschbaum, C., Fehr, E., & Heinrichs, M. (2012). The social dimension of stress reactivity: Acute stress increases prosocial behavior in humans. Psychological Science, 23(6), 651–660. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611431576.
WHO (2010). Injuries and violence; the facts. Geneva. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/key_facts/en/.
Wilson, M., & Mesnick, S. L. (1997). An empirical test of the bodyguard hypothesis. In G. P.A (Ed.), Feminism and evolutionary biology (pp. 505–511). Boston: Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5985-6_21.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Dye, J., Burke, D. (2019). Victims of Violence. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1791-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1791-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences