War, murder & human nature: Why people kill

Why do people kill? Is violent behaviour part of human nature? These are important social questions. And while murder and war are grim subject matters, they are difficult to ignore. There are 468,000 murders every year around the world, and that number would be quadrupled were it not for fast ambulances and modern emergency units. If you count the war dead in the past two centuries, the number blows past 200 million.

How can we explain this human proclivity for violence? In his latest journalistic investigation, college academic Steve Bareham pulls together dramatic information about what goes on in the minds of murderers, and much of it is both controversial and surprising.

You’ll discover that we murder for at least two dozen reasons, ranging from self-preservation instinct, genetics, predisposition of the “plain bad and angry,” environmental influences, psychological trauma, mental illness and about 20 emotions that can drive people to kill when combined with other situations and events. These are emotions with which we are all familiar! Read about psychopaths and sociopaths. It's likely that you know one or more psychopaths, stats suggest there's one among every 100 people. Learn to spot warning signs in your social and work lives: alienation, resentment of authority, extreme comments, bizarre shifts in behavior and attitudes. Also find that many serial killers and violent offenders first experiment by torturing and killing animals.

He also explores how dangerous disaffected alpha males can be, the David Koresh’s of the world, what drives parents to kill their children, genocide and pseudo-speciation, the dehumanization of others. We murder and war so often that it’s commonplace in any news cycle, but now you will better understand the triggers that push us to violence. Why do people kill? Read on and find out.