From Charles Darwin to Sherlock Holmes: contributions of evolutionary psychology in forensic science investigation

Introduction Evolutionary psychology (EP) is a discipline born between evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and physical anthropology. It's both a theoretical and practical scientific discipline which principal purpose is to study human behavior, in order to understand the biological and evolutionary causes that generated it. Evolutionary psychology finds its roots in the Darwinian theory, considering human behavior as the product of adaptations to recurring problems in the ancestral environment, which evolved as functional results of natural or sexual selection forces. A branch of this discipline, Evolutionary forensic psychology, is a burgeoning fieldwhich explores the application of science and the profession of psychology to questions and issues relating to the law and legal systems. It make use of empirical methodologies, as fieldwork, the method mutually exclusive of multiple hypotheses, and the deductive investigative logic, which allowsto create psychological profiles. These profiles are based on objective data from the analysis of the cases, and aim to predict and understand biological motives that led people to commit violent behavior. Evolutionary forensic psychology promise to be a useful tool to study and analyze the variables of different situations, in order to assist and direct police and defensive investigations. In this PhD research I addressed different aspects and applications of this discipline. In the specific, during my research period at Philippe-Pinel research institute of Montrèal, Canada, I have explored the application of evolutionary psychology in the study of presence, a psychological state akin to perceptual illusion, first identified by cognitive and cyber psychology, and here analyzed as sexual presence. However , my research has mainly concentrated on the study of the adaptive value of maternal infanticide, with a special focus on the phenomenon of maternal neonaticide, here meant as "reproductive disinvestment", and its social and legal implications. Following this line of research, as part of the Evolutionary Forensic Psychology Laboratory, I experienced the role of the investigative psychologist, attending as defensive consultant a case of suspected maternal infanticide. Applying the methodology of evolutionary forensic psychology, I conducted, with my supervisor, an interdisciplinary research between forensic psychobiology and legal medicine, aiming to verify the validity of tympanic and rectal temperature in estimating the time of death. I suggest that the results of this research had relevant consequences both in medico-legal and investigative domain but, above all, our outcomes brought to light a number of methodological errors, that are systematically made in our country during the crime scene investigation and the rescuing in outdoor conditions. According to these findings, I have analyzed the European Guidelines for resuscitation in wild conditions, and I took in exam what happens in the practice in our country. Finally I present representative cases, where the time of death was a crucial data, but its erroneous interpretations led to controversial verdicts. The sexual presence model Introduction to the concept of presence Presence is defined as a psychological state or subjective perception causing an individual to give into the illusions created by a computerizing system., it’s a real feeling of been immersed in a virtual environment, mediated by emotional states and biological predispositions. In the practice, it is very important to define and measure the feeling of presence, since Virtual Reality is used to for a large number of purpose. Most recent research show how useful virtual reality is in medical context, both in diagnosis and treatment assessments. According to this, here is presented a special kind of the feeling of presence, the sexual presence, which describes the particular psychological cognitive and physical feeling generate by the experience of sexuality through different media, as erotic movies or chat-line. Aim of the theory To define and understanding sexual presence is crucial to maximize and recall this feeling in an experimental context. In fact, virtual reality is a powerful tool to assess sexual fantasies and interests in individual. Especially with child molesters, and sexual offenders. To get the highest level of presence, which integrates, the users need as much identification as possible inside the virtual system, which should be provided by the developer through a convincing and controlled motor and perceptual illusion. For all these reasons, this work aims to identify the features of sexual presence, and how to induce it in an experimental situation. Main aspects of the sexual presence model Sexual presence is an evolutionary phenomenon featured by motivational emotional and physical feelings, that an individual experiences when exposed to internal or external stimuli, like erotic movies, on-line erotic chat and most of all, sexual fantasies. Sexual presence arises from an adequate combination of form and contents, and is strictly related to sexual arousal and sexual behavior. Following Riva and colleagues (2011) this work identified three sub-processes of sexual presence: proto, core and extended presence, which are deeply connected, and represent both in conscious and in unconscious behaviors and in intents that features sexual presence, and they differ from male and female. This three level model should be well-known when we need to induce sexual presence in experimental context. Thus to maximize sexual presence it is important to identified the erotic imagery features for each participant, and to develop a virtual environment which is significant to the participant. Conclusion This model could be particularly useful in the study of paraphilias and sexual behavior disordered using virtual reality system. In fact, at the present time, the research team I worked with at the Philippe-Pinel Institute, is applying this model in the study of evolutionary hypothesis on rape. Mothers Who Kill Their Offspring: Testing Evolutionary Hypothesis in a 110-case Italian Sample Introduction and aim The killing of a child by own biological mother has occurred in our species since its origin, most probably in every culture and every population. According to evolutionary theory, the killing of offspring by its own mother may, under certain conditions, represent an evolved behavioural pattern that increases the reproductive fitness of the mother. This research aimed to identify incidents of mothers in Italy killing their own children, verifying if neonaticide (killings of children within the first day of life), infanticide (killing of children within the first year of life), and filicide (killing of children after the first year of life) can be objectively distinguished by psychobiological profiles that might help to prevent them, and testing an adaptive evolutionary hypothesis to explain their occurrence. Methods 110 cases of mothers killing 123 of their own offspring from 1976 to 2010 were analyzed. Each case was classified using 13 dichotomic (yes/no) variables. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical cluster analysis were performed both for cases and variables, and significant differences between clusters were analyzed. Results: The Italian sample of neonaticides was found to satisfy most evolutionary predictions for an evolved behavioral, emotional and motivational pattern to increase fitness, showing a consistent profile for the offending mothers. All neonaticide cases fall in a single cluster, distinct from all other cases. Infanticide and filicide, on the contrary, do not significantly differ according to the variables measured (marital status, conditions of the body, mothers age, violent killing, other sons, psychopathology, economical condition, suicide, nationality). The common profile of mothers who have committed infanticide or filicide includes psychopathology, suicide or attempted suicide after killing their children, violent killing of their victims, and no attempt to conceal the victims’ bodies. These results suggest that maternal infanticide and filicide represent an improper functioning of adaptation, and their profile are much more variable than those of neonaticide offenders. Conclusion: Our study confirms that only neonaticide is an adaptive reproductive disinvestment, possibly evolved in the remote past, to increase the biological fitness of the mother by eliminating an unwanted newborn and preserving resources for future offspring born in better conditions. I here show that Neonaticide is clearly distinct from infanticide and filicide and therefore should be approached, prevented, and judged differently in penal assessment. Why mothers kill newborn: a focus on Italian sample Introduction and aims In the light of the results just presented, it has been defined deeply the phenomenon of neonaticide in our country. In line with the literature, our previous outcomes show that neonaticidal mothers are young women, in bad socio-economical situation, who can’t grow their offspring, due to a so defined “reproductive comprehensive instinct”. The socio-biological profile of these women seems very similar to those who decide to have an abortion: renounce to a pregnancy, in this case, doesn’t mean to go against the reproductive instinct, but preserveenergy and resources for a future pregnancy. Here we compared the profiles of neonaticidal mothers and women who decide to interrupt their pregnancy, in order to identify risk factors and contribute to the prevention of this phenomena. Methods 35 cases of neonaticide were analyzed. Each case was classified using 7 main dichotomic variables. To analyze possible risk factors, all data have been normalized, based on the actual frequency of the reference populations, in order to have comparable values, according to ISTAT 2002. Results This study shows that neona

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