The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is Designed to Kill

Science News, June 11, 2005

THE MURDERER NEXT DOOR: Why the Mind Is Designed to Kill

DAVID M. BUSS

While serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy and Charles Manson rule the headlines, they account for only 1 percent of all murders committed. The majority of murders are perpetrated by ordinary citizens, and most of those killers are men who kill only once. In this intriguing book, Buss proposes that the human mind has been evolutionarily programmed to kill. In short, people kill under very specific circumstances most often involving reproductive competition. The struggle to find and keep a suitable mate has led many people to resort to drastic measures. Buss developed his controversial theory after studying thousands of FBI case files and conducting several studies of homicidal fantasies. He found that, worldwide, most murders are committed by young men who kill other men, most women are killed by mates or former mates, and women most often kill men who harm them or their offspring. These and other examples offer powerful support for the author's evolutionary theory and give the reader a startling, and at times unsettlingly familiar, glimpse into the mind of a killer. Penguin Press HC, 2005, 288 p., hardcover, $24. 95.