Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T06:49:49.083Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Climate is not a good candidate to account for variations in aggression and violence across space and time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2017

Hugo Mell ,
Lou Safra ,
Nicolas Baumard  and
Pierre O. Jacquet
Hugo Mell
Affiliation:
Evolution and Social Cognition Group, Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives (LNC), Département d'Etudes Cognitives, INSERM U960, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, Francemell@magbio.ens.frlou.safra@gmail.compierre.jacquet@inserm.fr
Lou Safra
Affiliation:
Evolution and Social Cognition Group, Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives (LNC), Département d'Etudes Cognitives, INSERM U960, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, Francemell@magbio.ens.frlou.safra@gmail.compierre.jacquet@inserm.fr
Nicolas Baumard
Affiliation:
Evolution and Social Cognition Group, Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, CNRS UMR8129, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, Francenbaumard@gmail.comhttp://iec-esc.ens.fr/
Pierre O. Jacquet
Affiliation:
Evolution and Social Cognition Group, Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives (LNC), Département d'Etudes Cognitives, INSERM U960, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, Francemell@magbio.ens.frlou.safra@gmail.compierre.jacquet@inserm.fr Evolution and Social Cognition Group, Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, CNRS UMR8129, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, F-75005 Paris, Francenbaumard@gmail.comhttp://iec-esc.ens.fr/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We agree with Van Lange et al. that climate is likely to affect individuals' social behavior in many ways. However, we suspect that its impact on physiology and psychology is so remote that its predictive power disintegrates almost completely through the causal chain underlying aggression and violence.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e91
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baumard, N. & Chevallier, C. (2015) The nature and dynamics of world religions: A life history approach. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 282:20151593. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1593.Google ScholarPubMed
Baumard, N., Hyafil, A., Morris, I. & Boyer, P. (2015) Explaining the axial age: How energy capture favored ascetic wisdoms and moralizing religions. Current Biology 25:10–15. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.10.063.Google Scholar
Burke, M., Hsiang, S. M. & Miguel, E. (2015) Climate and conflict. Annual Review of Economics 7:577–617.Google Scholar
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (2013) Uniform crime reporting. Crime in the United States. Accessed August 7, 2016. Available at: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/4tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_4_crime_in_the_united_states_by_region_geographic_division_and_state_2012-2013.xls.Google Scholar
Hsiang, S. M., Burke, M. & Miguel, E. (2013) Quantifying the influence of climate on human conflict. Science 341(6151):. doi: 10.1126/science.1235367.Google Scholar
PediaCities (2013) New York City crime map. Accessed August 7, 2016. Available at: http://nyc.pediacities.com/fsmaps/NYCCrimeMap/.Google Scholar
Richards, P. (1999) Homicide statistics, Research Paper 99/56, Table 1. House of Commons Library.Google Scholar
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2016a) Population and households: 2-1. Population by sex, population increase and decrease, population density (1872–2009). Accessed May 7, 2016. Available at: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/chouki/02.htm.Google Scholar
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2016b) Justice and police: 28-1. Penal code crime cases known to the police and cases cleared up by type of crime (1924–2004). Accessed May 7, 2016. Available at: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/chouki/28.htm.Google Scholar
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes [UNODC] (2016) Crime and criminal justice (2008–2012). Accessed May 7, 2016. Available at: https://data.unodc.org/#state:0.Google Scholar
World Bank Group (2016a) Climate Change Knowledge Portal (2008–2012). Accessed May 7, 2016. Available at: http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/index.cfm?page=downscaled_data_download&menu=historical.Google Scholar