Sex of perps of mass/serial/spree killings

I don't think it's as much a matter of internalizing or externalizing feelings, as it is thought processes/perceptions. If something negative/bad occurs (Event X), and Person A perceives it as being the result of his/her actions, then Person A is more likely to be sad/depressed/guilty about Event X. Meanwhile, if Person B perceives Event X as being something done by forces outside of Person B, Person B's reaction is more likely to be anger.

Overall, though, the more I observe my nonhuman companions, the more I believe that there is a very significant biological component to the differences between males and females, as I discussed earlier in this thread.
 
It more in the nature of hormones and how male and female brains process information. Pet scans of brains
working you can tell a male brain from a female brain by the region of activity.
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Criminol...gy-3379/serial-killers-predominantly-male.htm

There are certainly some general brain and other biological differences between males and females that would account for much of the difference in behavior.

Even in unaltered cats, a tom will generally be a fighter, girls not so much. That's not nurture, that's pure nature.
 
I don't think it's as much a matter of internalizing or externalizing feelings, as it is thought processes/perceptions. If something negative/bad occurs (Event X), and Person A perceives it as being the result of his/her actions, then Person A is more likely to be sad/depressed/guilty about Event X. Meanwhile, if Person B perceives Event X as being something done by forces outside of Person B, Person B's reaction is more likely to be anger.

Overall, though, the more I observe my nonhuman companions, the more I believe that there is a very significant biological component to the differences between males and females, as I discussed earlier in this thread.
absolutely. we tend to forget just how much our roles as animals/males/females etc. have a biological component that is very old. Perhaps that is a big reason if someone would give my family a hard time, i would be on like Al Capone. just protecting the fam..
 
Overall, though, the more I observe my nonhuman companions, the more I believe that there is a very significant biological component to the differences between males and females, as I discussed earlier in this thread.

Maybe. But bear in mind that unless your nonhuman companions are primates, they split off from humanity's ancestors back in the age of the dinosaurs.

It seems to me that with the great apes, especially with the homo genus, it would be very easy to push behavior into the "nurture" and not "nature" category, with the benefit that such social behaviors are far adaptable to change.
 
Sure, we're better able to modify our behavior by reason of our intellect, at least theoretically. But we are talking about intrinsic differences between males and females, and unless you're trying to argue that evolution has somehow modified the human species to minimize those differences, they still exist. Since evolution hasn't done much/anything to change the outward physical differences between men and women, I think you'd be hard pressed to provide support for that argument.

And, BTW, my point isn't dependent on similarities between humans and other species - my point is that there are distinct behavioral differences between the males and females of given warm blooded species, even species which do not exhibit physical sexual dimorphism. Of course you can argue that humans are very special and unlike all other animals in all respects, but that's an argument that I've actually only heard from those who very fundamentally believe that God created us in his own image.
 
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Sure, we're better able to modify our behavior by reason of our intellect, at least theoretically. But we are talking about intrinsic differences between males and females, and unless you're trying to argue that evolution has somehow modified the human species to minimize those differences, they still exist. Since evolution hasn't done much/anything to change the outward physical differences between men and women, I think you'd be hard pressed to provide support for that argument.

Well, actually, humans are more than a tad neotenic*. But I'm quite curious what differences you think there are internally that would affect behavior.

I suspect you'll say "testosterone", but it appears that, at least according to the Wiki, "results in relation to primates, particularly humans, are less clear cut and are at best only suggestive of a positive association in some contexts."

* Dang, had to look up how to spell that since my spellcheck hates that word.
 
Ive looked after animals and spent time with humans, and I can say that females can be just as aggressive as males, they just express it in a different, less obvious way.
 
Ive looked after animals and spent time with humans, and I can say that females can be just as aggressive as males, they just express it in a different, less obvious way.
depends. in the animal world, there are some seriously brutal females.
 
depends. in the animal world, there are some seriously brutal females.

Actually, our closest relatives, the chimps have female-led infanticide in order to punish "outsider" females. Such behavior isn't female-specific (there's roughly an equal amount of male-led infanticide as well), but it is rather disturbing.
 
Well, actually, humans are more than a tad neotenic*. But I'm quite curious what differences you think there are internally that would affect behavior.

I suspect you'll say "testosterone", but it appears that, at least according to the Wiki, "results in relation to primates, particularly humans, are less clear cut and are at best only suggestive of a positive association in some contexts."

* Dang, had to look up how to spell that since my spellcheck hates that word.

No, I wouldn't say testosterone. As I said earlier in the thread, I don't think it plays as big of a role as generally assumed. While hormones undoubtedly play some role in human behavior and may partially explain some differences between women and men, I suspect that mass/serial/spree killers don't have higher than average, and possibly lower than average, levels of testosterone (again, as I said earlier in this thread). It would be interesting to see a study on that subject.

We do know that women's brains function differently than men's. You're probably going to argue that that's because of some socially constructed imprinting. I think that there simply are differences.
 
I just think that males have more of a propensity to see violence as a way to solve problems. If some males becomes emotionally backed into a corner, they may not be able to see any course of action other than violence as a way forward.
 
We do know that women's brains function differently than men's. You're probably going to argue that that's because of some socially constructed imprinting. I think that there simply are differences.

So if you believe that biology has implied that women and men have different brains, what would you say about the studies showing that more men than women are at the extremes of intelligent (meaning there are more smart men than smart women, and conversely, more dumb men than dumb women)? Is that biology as well?

What about the idea that men's higher pay (on average) than women is due to being more aggressive about negotiating for a higher salary, and more willing to move on to another job that pays higher? Some research has suggested this, and if biologically, men's brains are different than women's brains, it's possible there's a biological difference for the gender gap in wages. (A similar mechanism could be argued for why men are more common than women in politics.)

There's also a study that has shown that women are more likely to follow orders than men, even when those orders harm another living creature. Do you think women are more likely to conform, even though it means hurting others?

Or do you strictly believe that men and women's brains are only relevant in activities that show men at a disadvantage? If you only believe that differences in men's brains disadvantage them, perhaps you need to ask yourself why that is the case. Then answer the followup question - if men and women have different brains due to strictly biological reasons, doesn't it probably follow that men will be better than women at some mental tasks? What if those tasks make men "better" at careers and politics? Using your premise that men and women are different genetically, even their behavior, it's a logical possibility.

But I tend to reject that theory unless proven otherwise. I think male and female behavior tends to be far more alike than many of us think. Here's why:

We've evolved to have huge brains. That has drawbacks. Women dying in childbirth is one of the more well-known ones. (Even painful childbirth stems, in part, to our large skulls.) But there are less obvious ones - for example, your brain disproportionately uses the calories you consume. The most frequently citied figure is that your brain is about 1/50th of your mass, but uses 1/5th of your energy. And we have an extremely long period of learning - we spend a disproportionate amount of our time as children, soaking up knowledge, instead of growing up and reproducing. From an evolutionary perspective, there must be a reason why we've devoted so much of our biological resources into carrying and supporting a huge brain that's born dumb. Sure, nowadays, brains are pretty awesome for survival (just look at all those modern conveniences, and the lack of modern worries such as being eaten by a cheetah at the local watering hole). But for the vast majority of H. Sapiens history, we didn't even have agriculture. (We developed agriculture in about the last 1/10th of the time humans have been around.) I'd hypothesize that what increased our survival was pushing more and more behavior from instinct (nature) to learned behavior (nurture), allowing the homo genus to adapt quicker and faster to changes in their environment.

There are biological differences in men's and women's brains. An obvious example is that men's brains tend to mass more (due to men simply being larger). But to use biology to explain all of those neurological differences, and to assume that behavior differences between the gender stems from those neurological differences is a huge leap. Especially since stereotypical gender behavior can and does change with the culture and with history. We have a long history of using "biology" to explain differences in human behavior amoung different groups, and we've often been proved wrong.

In summary (the too long; didn't read version): Humans do show gender differences in neurological anatomy. Some of this may stem from genetics. But it's far too premature to assign gender-typical behavior to genetics, and our evolutionary history and basic biology strongly suggests that humanity and its predecessor species found it very useful to have a large, very adaptable brain. A brain that nowadays can soak up many stereotypical gender roles from culture and act accordingly.
 
So if you believe that biology has implied that women and men have different brains, what would you say about the studies showing that more men than women are at the extremes of intelligent (meaning there are more smart men than smart women, and conversely, more dumb men than dumb women)? Is that biology as well?

I'm going to take your post one paragraph at a time, because I have other things to do today, and also because I had already typed out the beginning of a lengthy response and lost it when my computer rebooted without warning to install updates.

Let me preface by saying that, contrary to assumptions I think you may have about my views, I don't think that women are *better* than men, or vice versa. For myself, I have a pretty strong preference for being female, and if there were such a thing as reincarnation and I had a say in the matter, I would choose to be female again. But the reasons for that are other than any assumption that one sex is *better* than the other.

Let me also be perfectly clear that I do believe that women and men are more similar than dissimilar, just like a male cat is more similar than dissimilar to a female cat. That doesn't, however, mean that there aren't differences, or that the differences aren't interesting. All or nothing thinking, OTOH, isn't very interesting.

As to the point raised in your first paragraph: study of the human genome explained that some years ago. Men get all of the genes that determine intelligence solely from their mothers, while women get such genes from both parents. Therefore, by simple mathematics, men are going to occupy both extremes of the intelligence spectrum. That's simply a fact of genetics and mathematics.
 
As to the point raised in your first paragraph: study of the human genome explained that some years ago. Men get all of the genes that determine intelligence solely from their mothers, while women get such genes from both parents. Therefore, by simple mathematics, men are going to occupy both extremes of the intelligence spectrum. That's simply a fact of genetics and mathematics.

Actually, not all of the genes that affect intelligence is from the X chromosome, as a simple google search will show.

But it does seem that genes that do affect intelligence can be found on the X chromosome. I'll have some more about this in order to figure out how it would play out. After all, X-linked genes that are "dominant" in the traditional genetic sense would be more likely to affect women, right?

Plus, the Flynn effect tends to argue strongly that intelligence is (or at least was) strongly influenced by environment.
 
Actually, not all of the genes that affect intelligence is from the X chromosome, as a simple google search will show.

Plus, the Flynn effect tends to argue strongly that intelligence is (or at least was) strongly influenced by environment.

http://discovermagazine.com/2005/oct/sex/

And of course intelligence is influenced by the environment - pretty much everything is. That doesn't negate the fact that there are differences that are not explained by environment or hormones.