I just finished your book. Thanks for writing - it was very illuminating.
I'd like to ask a question however about the evolution of psychopathy. You mentioned a particular tribe in the Amazon whose culture provided an environment in which psychopathy could theoretically confer an evolutionary advantage. I'd like to ask whether any neurobiological studies of these tribespeople have been carried out in a way that might offer evidence to support this hypothesis.
I'd also like to ask why we need an evolutionary advantage hypothesis at all when it comes to psychopathy - is there any reason not to think it occurs spontaneously, because of brain deficits, or surpluses in functioning in some parts of the brain, due to random mutation, or because of environmental effects (including in the womb), or because of learned behaviour as a result of growing up in a particular environmental context (eg the Amazon one).
Shirazi15172 karma
Hi Professor Raine.
I just finished your book. Thanks for writing - it was very illuminating.
I'd like to ask a question however about the evolution of psychopathy. You mentioned a particular tribe in the Amazon whose culture provided an environment in which psychopathy could theoretically confer an evolutionary advantage. I'd like to ask whether any neurobiological studies of these tribespeople have been carried out in a way that might offer evidence to support this hypothesis.
I'd also like to ask why we need an evolutionary advantage hypothesis at all when it comes to psychopathy - is there any reason not to think it occurs spontaneously, because of brain deficits, or surpluses in functioning in some parts of the brain, due to random mutation, or because of environmental effects (including in the womb), or because of learned behaviour as a result of growing up in a particular environmental context (eg the Amazon one).
Thanks
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