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

by David M. Buss

Book Overview

As acclaimed psychological researcher and author David Buss writes, "People are mesmerized by murder. It commands our attention like no other human phenomenon, and those touched by its ugly tendrils... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594200432
• ISBN13: 9781594200434
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Press
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Why the Mind Is Designed to Kill

I really enjoyed this book! As a psychology major, I found the statistics within the book to be extremely fascinating. I loved the way the author explained everything in an easy-to-understand and captivating manner. This book has influenced the way I think about the world and when reading other books, I can refer back to this book and understand why people act the way they act. If you are interested in psychology or criminology I HIGHLY recommend you read this book.

To kill or not to kill, motivation and inhibition of murdering our fellow man

David Buss does an excellent job combining evolutionary theory with empirical evidence to demonstrate how aggression leading to murder is potentially engrained in all of us. From data collected from files and personal interviews of thousands of murderers and would-be murderers Buss teases apart the motivation for murder and why some people carry through with it and others control their emotions short of murder. Murder has its roots ultimately in factors that relate to sex, status, and reproduction. Inhibition of killing someone a person would like to imagine dead is fear of retaliation from the judicial system, i.e. getting caught and going to jail. Buss leaves us wondering what life would be like on this planet without law enforcement. Perhaps something we don't want to imagine! Highly recommended for everyone, especially those working in the criminal justice system.

A great book

This is a great book. The author's arguments are intelligent and well-supported by careful research. His thinking on the origins of murder is crystal clear. If you are interested in understanding *why* people kill, then this is the book for you. If you want a true crime novel, Sherlock Holmes mystery, or a book that supports your unique ideology, you should probably pass. I am familiar with most of the research that Buss cites in his book. My background has led me to be quite confused by the negative reviews that appear in this section. Confused is probably the wrong word-- indignant is closer to the mark. Here are the problems with the majority of negative comments written about this book. 1. The reviewer did not read the book or did not read it carefully. This kind of negative review is often written by students who are assigned a book as part of their course reading. Buss's book has been adopted for use in a number of courses at different universities, which is the real reason why there are numerous copies of it available on the used book market. 2. The reviewer did not pay attention to the goal of the book, which is to provide an account of the evolutionary origins of murder. The book was not written to provide an account of the origins of other behaviors. It was not written to provide support for other theories of murder. The author never claims that evolution is the only cause of murder. He proposes that human evolutionary history selected for ways of thinking that may contribute to murder. 3. The negative comments were written by people who have an agenda against evolutionary theory in general or the application of evolutionary theory to humans specifically. It's no surprise that these reviewers would be unfairly or inaccurately critical of the book. They are motivated to demonstrate that everyone should adopt their ideology. 4. The negative comments are either completely inaccurate or outright distortions. One reviewer accuses the author of a lack of critical thinking and sloppy scholarship. This simply isn't the case. Buss's arguments are very clear, logical, and well-supported by available evidence. This reviewer selectively cites outside works that support her arguments, but ignores multiple other works that support Buss. The reviewer does not provide any balanced evaluation of which sources of evidence are better. She also asserts that her interpretations of the research Buss cites in his book are more accurate than Buss's interpretations. So who should we believe: the reviewer or the author? I encourage motivated readers to do their own, independent research and evaluate who is closer to the truth. In the absence of that, the safer bet is probably the person who has spent years of his professional life studying the topic of murder. This is not to say that Buss's book is perfect. No scholarly book can be perfect because our understanding of the world changes constantly in light of new disco

Murder Science 301

This book provides an excellent framework for thinking about murderous thoughts and deeds. A readiness to have murderous intentions may well be part of our human natures, rather than a sign of mental illness, antisocial attitudes, or evil. The more we understand about our behavioral adaptations (prepared behavioral responses shaped by evolutionary forces), the more we can recognize them when they arise, stop and think, and choose among various alternative behaviors. In my work as a forensic psychologist, I rely on evolutionary theory as one framework for understanding humans generally, and for appreciating differences among humans. Buss's work is useful for scientists and practitioners, and is accessible for ordinary folk as well. Reading this book can help one think like a scientist.

Gripping Tales of Real Life Murders

Dr. Buss has written one of the most engrossing cross-over books I have ever read. There is so much to learn! And the true life renditions of what takes some people over the edge rung a bell. I think everyone at some time or another hears about a murder that is just a little too close to home -- and now we know why. This book provides a great read and gives you the real-deal information on the statistics around murder. At the same time it gave me true life stories to tell and generate conversation with while I'm out with friends or meeting new people in social settings. It is odd how much people are interested in precisely the kinds of killings Dr. Buss talks about in his book. Great conversation starter. And so relevant in today's CSI and Court TV culture. What I liked most was how the book opened my mind and made me think differently about society and it's ills. Frankly, there is a good argument that society, as in the current time frame, has very little to do with how our minds are fashioned or designed. Time is the great teacher and the scale of time that Dr. Buss thinks in is much greater than anyone else I've previously read. It made me change my own way of thinking about culture and society. I enjoyed this book because I felt like I was learning about scientifically sound work and reading a thriller book at the same time. The book also gets better with each chapter. I hate that feeling of starting a book and then it seems to lose steam. Not the case here. Actually, I was left with a lot of questions that I hope to learn more about. Hopefully Buss will keep on writing interesting books that invite the nonscientists of the world into the "back room" of academic research. Books that are based on scientific discoveries that reveal the underlying structure of human relationships in an interesting way are hard to find. This book is a must have for people who are trying to build interesting libraries in their own homes -- one of my passions. Thanks for the chance to share my thoughts on this book.

Gripping, powerful, and important

In this exceptional book, David Buss examines the psychological processes that lead people to commit murder. The book is utterly fascinating and enthralling from page one. As a long-time reader of true crime novels and in my many years of professional work as a researcher of criminal psychology, I have not encountered a more thorough, more compelling analysis of the psychology of murder. Buss argues that, over the long expanse of human history, there were recurrent sources of conflict between individuals, such as conflict over reputation and social status, conflict over resources, and conflict over romantic partners. He proposes that killing may be one among an arsenal of strategies that was gradually shaped by natural selection to win conflicts with others. Homicide, according to Buss, is unique from non-lethal solutions to conflict. A person can no longer damage your reputation, steal your resources, prevent you from attracting a romantic partner, or sleep with your spouse if that person is dead. Buss builds a powerful case that our evolutionary heritage may have endowed us all with a psychology for murder. These psychological processes lead us to entertain fantasies of killing and, in rare instances, act on them when we encounter sources of conflict that were successfully won by homicide in the evolutionary past. Buss brings together an impressive variety of evidence to build his case. He explores homicide data from industrialized nations, reports of homicide in tribal cultures, evidence of conspecific killing in other animal species, archeological evidence of murders committed in the past, as well as his own research of police homicide case files and normal people's homicidal fantasies. Buss acknowledges that a number of different factors may influence the likelihood that a person will kill, including previous exposure to violence, damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, personality disorders, and psychopathology. He points out, however, that although these explanations may identify some risk factors or correlates of murder, they are inadequate to explain the origins and functions of the psychological processes that produce reliable patterns of homicidal fantasies and homicidal behavior. The new explanation of murder that Buss proposes successfully fills in large gaps in our understanding of why people kill. Even those who may take issue with some of Buss's arguments will find his book to be powerful and illuminating. The Murderer Next Door is, without overstatement, an absolute must read for anyone interested in why people kill.