Are there fitness benefits to violence? The case of medieval Iceland
Males that behave violently to achieve social and reproductive objectives are a widespread phenomenon among mammals, as well as humans. Because this kind of behaviour can be socially very disruptive, its continued survival in human populations, in particular, remains a puzzle. We use historical data...
Published in: | Evolution and Human Behavior |
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2024
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Online Access: | https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7a400cfc-e0ab-4799-a7f4-dd22ad72685e https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106614 |
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ftulundlup:oai:lup.lub.lu.se:7a400cfc-e0ab-4799-a7f4-dd22ad72685e 2024-09-30T14:37:25+00:00 Are there fitness benefits to violence? The case of medieval Iceland Dunbar, R. I.M. Wallette, Anna 2024-09 https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7a400cfc-e0ab-4799-a7f4-dd22ad72685e https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106614 eng eng Elsevier https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7a400cfc-e0ab-4799-a7f4-dd22ad72685e http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106614 scopus:85200976062 Evolution and Human Behavior; 45(5), no 106614 (2024) ISSN: 1090-5138 Evolutionary Biology Berserkers Fitness Murder Vikings Violence contributiontojournal/article info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2024 ftulundlup https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106614 2024-09-11T14:29:27Z Males that behave violently to achieve social and reproductive objectives are a widespread phenomenon among mammals, as well as humans. Because this kind of behaviour can be socially very disruptive, its continued survival in human populations, in particular, remains a puzzle. We use historical data on the pedigrees of medieval Icelandic Vikings to test the hypothesis that males who killed had higher fitness than other males. Whereas most studies that examine the evolutionary benefits of behaviour focus on the numbers of offspring sired, in this paper we measure fitness more directly in terms of the number of grandchildren produced both directly and indirectly via collateral relatives, as well as determining the costs of pursuing alternative strategies in terms of experienced mortality rates. We show that, on average, killers gain a very significant fitness advantage despite the often high costs they pay and, more importantly, that they had a dramatic effect on the fitness of their male kin. We suggest that such behaviour represents a phenotypic, rather than genetic, response to opportunities provided by local circumstances. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Lund University Publications (LUP) Evolution and Human Behavior 45 5 106614 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Lund University Publications (LUP) |
op_collection_id |
ftulundlup |
language |
English |
topic |
Evolutionary Biology Berserkers Fitness Murder Vikings Violence |
spellingShingle |
Evolutionary Biology Berserkers Fitness Murder Vikings Violence Dunbar, R. I.M. Wallette, Anna Are there fitness benefits to violence? The case of medieval Iceland |
topic_facet |
Evolutionary Biology Berserkers Fitness Murder Vikings Violence |
description |
Males that behave violently to achieve social and reproductive objectives are a widespread phenomenon among mammals, as well as humans. Because this kind of behaviour can be socially very disruptive, its continued survival in human populations, in particular, remains a puzzle. We use historical data on the pedigrees of medieval Icelandic Vikings to test the hypothesis that males who killed had higher fitness than other males. Whereas most studies that examine the evolutionary benefits of behaviour focus on the numbers of offspring sired, in this paper we measure fitness more directly in terms of the number of grandchildren produced both directly and indirectly via collateral relatives, as well as determining the costs of pursuing alternative strategies in terms of experienced mortality rates. We show that, on average, killers gain a very significant fitness advantage despite the often high costs they pay and, more importantly, that they had a dramatic effect on the fitness of their male kin. We suggest that such behaviour represents a phenotypic, rather than genetic, response to opportunities provided by local circumstances. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dunbar, R. I.M. Wallette, Anna |
author_facet |
Dunbar, R. I.M. Wallette, Anna |
author_sort |
Dunbar, R. I.M. |
title |
Are there fitness benefits to violence? The case of medieval Iceland |
title_short |
Are there fitness benefits to violence? The case of medieval Iceland |
title_full |
Are there fitness benefits to violence? The case of medieval Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Are there fitness benefits to violence? The case of medieval Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Are there fitness benefits to violence? The case of medieval Iceland |
title_sort |
are there fitness benefits to violence? the case of medieval iceland |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7a400cfc-e0ab-4799-a7f4-dd22ad72685e https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106614 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Evolution and Human Behavior; 45(5), no 106614 (2024) ISSN: 1090-5138 |
op_relation |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7a400cfc-e0ab-4799-a7f4-dd22ad72685e http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106614 scopus:85200976062 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106614 |
container_title |
Evolution and Human Behavior |
container_volume |
45 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
106614 |
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1811640279634018304 |