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Authors: Douglas T. Kenrick
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sexually aroused, which are downstream effects of those hormones). Likewise for feelings of anger, which are linked to hormones that start flowing in situations in which it would have benefited our ancestors to act aggressively. But when you are angry, you do not think, âI am experiencing a surge of testosterone and noradrenaline, and I believe that, in the interest of enhancing my reproductive success, it would be wise to yell at this person who is challenging my status.â Instead, you are thinking, âThis jerk is one seriously irritating and disrespectful asshole!â
When Women Get Direct
Although women commit fewer assaults and homicides than men, it would be a mistake to conclude that all human females are harmless St. Theresaâlike little flowers. There is the occasional Lizzie Borden in the mix. Indeed, the âmereâ 10 percent of American homicides perpetrated by women still adds up to several thousand per year. In a review of the literature on this topic, evolutionary psychologist Anne Campbell summarized the conditions under which women will kill as âstayinâ aliveââwomen may act violently if their own survival, or that of their offspring, is threatened.
Consider one particularly vivid historical example. In 1789, France was in chaos, gripped by a severe economic recession and widespread famine. While poor women and their children were starving, they heard rumors that their queenâa young Austrian named Marie Antoinetteâwas continuing to throw away the stateâs money on banquets, jewels, and other extravagant luxuries. One day, an angry crowd of women began marching from Paris to the royal palace at Versailles, the crowd growing larger as other women joined them along the way. By the time they arrived at the palace, there were several thousand women, wielding axes, bayonets, and pikes and crying out for bread.
When no bread appeared, they began chanting for Marie Antoinetteâs head. Although the women were unsuccessful at finding the queen, they did find one of her bodyguards and decapitated him. In modern times, poverty is still linked to violence in women as well as in men. In areas with high numbers of people on unemployment and welfare, and during times of acute resource shortage, women are more likely to commit violent crimes.
In an experiment designed to investigate the triggers of female violence, we asked another group of students to imagine the following scenario: Youâve just graduated from college and the country is entering a recession. After spending months looking for work and exhausting all your savings, you canât count on any more financial support from your friends or family. Finally, you land a job at a large company. But you discover that to keep this job, you will have to compete with two other women (or men, if you are a man). As in the status-competition story, one of you will be fired and another will have a shot at a big bonus. Thinking about losing their jobs and facing high debt was the one motivational factor that produced a substantial boost in womenâs inclinations to approve of direct aggression. Interestingly, a similar pattern is found among chimpanzees: Anthropologist Martin Muller found that when scarce resources or feeding territories are at stake, females chimps begin to act like the normally more aggressive males.
So under some circumstances, females will switch from their preferred strategy of indirect aggression to a directly aggressive strategy. The circumstance most likely to trigger that shift is a severe economic threat. Incidentally, although Lizzie Borden was never actually convicted of the brutal murder of her father and stepmother, one aspect of her story fits with the general story of female direct aggression. Before the murder, Lizzie and her sister, both spinsters living in their fatherâs house and dependent on his economic support, had been having bitter arguments with the old man
When Women Get Direct
Although women commit fewer assaults and homicides than men, it would be a mistake to conclude that all human females are harmless St. Theresaâlike little flowers. There is the occasional Lizzie Borden in the mix. Indeed, the âmereâ 10 percent of American homicides perpetrated by women still adds up to several thousand per year. In a review of the literature on this topic, evolutionary psychologist Anne Campbell summarized the conditions under which women will kill as âstayinâ aliveââwomen may act violently if their own survival, or that of their offspring, is threatened.
Consider one particularly vivid historical example. In 1789, France was in chaos, gripped by a severe economic recession and widespread famine. While poor women and their children were starving, they heard rumors that their queenâa young Austrian named Marie Antoinetteâwas continuing to throw away the stateâs money on banquets, jewels, and other extravagant luxuries. One day, an angry crowd of women began marching from Paris to the royal palace at Versailles, the crowd growing larger as other women joined them along the way. By the time they arrived at the palace, there were several thousand women, wielding axes, bayonets, and pikes and crying out for bread.
When no bread appeared, they began chanting for Marie Antoinetteâs head. Although the women were unsuccessful at finding the queen, they did find one of her bodyguards and decapitated him. In modern times, poverty is still linked to violence in women as well as in men. In areas with high numbers of people on unemployment and welfare, and during times of acute resource shortage, women are more likely to commit violent crimes.
In an experiment designed to investigate the triggers of female violence, we asked another group of students to imagine the following scenario: Youâve just graduated from college and the country is entering a recession. After spending months looking for work and exhausting all your savings, you canât count on any more financial support from your friends or family. Finally, you land a job at a large company. But you discover that to keep this job, you will have to compete with two other women (or men, if you are a man). As in the status-competition story, one of you will be fired and another will have a shot at a big bonus. Thinking about losing their jobs and facing high debt was the one motivational factor that produced a substantial boost in womenâs inclinations to approve of direct aggression. Interestingly, a similar pattern is found among chimpanzees: Anthropologist Martin Muller found that when scarce resources or feeding territories are at stake, females chimps begin to act like the normally more aggressive males.
So under some circumstances, females will switch from their preferred strategy of indirect aggression to a directly aggressive strategy. The circumstance most likely to trigger that shift is a severe economic threat. Incidentally, although Lizzie Borden was never actually convicted of the brutal murder of her father and stepmother, one aspect of her story fits with the general story of female direct aggression. Before the murder, Lizzie and her sister, both spinsters living in their fatherâs house and dependent on his economic support, had been having bitter arguments with the old man
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