"Live Fast, Die Young": How Biology Explains Deviant Behavior

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We tend to condemn those who are guided by the principle "live fast, die young." But psychologists are in no hurry to draw unambiguous conclusions. Using the biographies of famous and most ordinary people as an example, behaviorists prove that deviant behavior has not only reasons, but also a rational meaning.

The story of a girl

Robin Marvel was not supposed to be successful. As a teenager, Marvel learned what it was like to see your mother being brutally beaten by your father and numerous boyfriends, to be a victim of sexual abuse. The family constantly moved from place to place, Robin began to drink and became pregnant.

Marvel recalls:

There was no stability at all. We were either evicted from the house, or we moved to another place. There was no electricity for months … We were expelled from the camps for people who were subjected to domestic violence. Simply because my mother constantly violated the rules of staying there.

Sometimes Robin would come home and find drugs lying on the table. “Mother was very unstable. She could wake up in the middle of the night and say that we are moving to Michigan. The same thing happened after a spontaneous move, everyone returned to their former places. I missed the first three months of third grade. Because at that time we were constantly living in a trailer in Sacramento."

Robin gave birth at 17. This helped her hold out for a while, but after a few years she started drinking again.

I could not see my daughter for a couple of days in a row. I was such a terrible person. I spent everything on my credit cards. I have mortgaged the car several times. I didn't understand why I had to pay my bills and worry about my credit history. Yes, and I did not feel a special need for this either.

Remembering those times, Robin says: “You have no control over life. It kind of sucks. But for me it was okay to live in such a terrible and wretched way."

Rabbit or elephant?

Sociologists and psychologists confirm that people like Robin Marvel, that is, those whose existence is accompanied by a lack of resources, instability and violence, most often shorten their lives by taking risks and getting into trouble. Vladas Griskevicius, a social psychologist at the University of Minnesota, wants to change the way we think about such people and the choices they have made.

The essence of most work in behavioral psychology is this: if you were born in adverse conditions, you will always be inferior. Poverty and violence hinder the development of your talents. But there is another opinion. From the point of view of evolutionary biology, people who grew up in unfavorable conditions adapt better to them.

If you grow up thinking that you have no future, you try to give everything that you have to your present. And the birth of a child at a young age for a dysfunctional person is not only justified, but also a useful step.

Grishkevichus, relying on, believes that each person has a limited amount of time, energy or money and must decide how to dispose of this capital. He either invests it in the future, investing in his own health and well-being of descendants, in multiplying knowledge and building relationships, or he will spend it on frequent mating in order to leave behind as many genetic copies as possible.

There are examples of similar behavior in the animal kingdom. For example, rabbits cannot control their environment and do not live long. Therefore, their approach to life is described simply: they multiply many, many, and then die. This is a "quick life strategy". A study of 48 mammalian species found that animals with a high mortality rate are more likely to mature early and produce large offspring in frequent litters. The same mammals that go through late puberty, such as elephants, live a long time, so they can afford to give birth to one offspring. This is a "slow life strategy".

Scientists believe that growing up in a dysfunctional environment accelerates human development. For example, girls growing up in poor and unstable families have their first menstruation earlier than their peers. Their bodies, apparently, feel the threat of the external environment and develop faster.

Women from third world countries, where life expectancy is not so high, give birth to their first child very early.

It may seem to some that this behavior is self-destructive, but scientists see the meaning in it. It is like investing your capital in the most profitable business with scarce resources. But even this scenario can be avoided. The main thing is to understand what things make a person truly happy.

Bengal tigers

This theory can also explain why disadvantaged children often take risks, get involved in trouble and get into crime stories.

Scientists believe that the lower the average family income, the more children want to grow up as soon as possible, have a family and have children. But they also have another idea of a normal future: career comes to the fore there. Aggressive and criminal activity is the fastest way to translate the idea of your own solvency into reality. When intellectual and financial resources are small, people try to achieve their goals with the lowest, as it seems to them, cost.

There is another version of the explanation for destructive behavior: when a person comes face to face with a sad reality and a lack of prospects, he feels defeat in advance and tries to resist.

It is the unpredictability of the future that provokes the deviant behavior of children from dysfunctional families, pushes them to commit crimes. Unpredictability affects a child more than low social status or poverty.

Man is a cunning creature, he tries to achieve his goals in the shortest possible way. It seems to him that if you quickly improve your present, then tomorrow will be good.

In this light, the slogan "Live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse" looks like a full-fledged strategy for some people. Moreover, even those who were able to break out of the vicious circle very often continue to be guided by the same principles.

For example, Stanley Burrell (MC Hammer) had eight brothers and sisters, and their mother raised them alone. He made millions of dollars from music, but quickly spent it on games and horse racing. Mike Tyson, one of the most successful boxers in the world, was raised by a single mother. He was able to make a fortune in fights, but Bengal tigers - including - helped him go bankrupt. Larry King - the greatest TV personality - grew up in the slums of Brooklyn. The showman made good money, but spent everything on endless divorces and his own whims.

Grishkevichus says that the brains of these people have been calibrated to live quickly. After all, according to the script in their head, tomorrow may not come.

Who is guilty

Grishkevichus and his team found out exactly which triggers cause such behavior scenarios in children from disadvantaged families. They found that scenes of violence and constant talk about economic problems lead to the fact that a person is willing to take risks, trying to get as much as possible at once, and not be content with a small dose of satisfaction. Such a person will choose a small amount of money now, rather than a large one later, tends to excessive consumption.

The blame for everything is the ephemeral sense of control over one's own life, which such actions give.

Uncertainty in life leads to the fact that people are trying to find at least some point of support. They become more impulsive, overestimate their own capabilities and rely on strategies that promise immediate benefits.

Worse, such strategies develop into guidance for later life, because such people are constantly waiting for trouble.

What to do

Grishkevichus's experiments showed that if the difference between social classes is erased, and the future seems stable, it truly works wonders for people. It turns out that we cannot demand responsible and highly moral behavior from those who grew up in dysfunctional families.

In order for people to behave according to the rules, it is necessary to create optimal conditions for their life, to prove that they can control what is happening.

Robin Marvel got rid of the victim complex. She gave birth to her second daughter, and her husband tried to help her in all her endeavors. The girl recalls: once something clicked inside her. She looked at her daughter and realized that she wanted to be a good example for her. Therefore, Marvel tried to do everything to program herself for positive thinking. In this she was helped by the relevant literature.

After Robin handled herself, she tried to help others - those who found themselves in the same situation as she once had. First, Marvel communicated with people through her website, and then she wrote five books for children. Her sixth composition will see the light soon. This time, Robin turned to the adults.

Every day, Marvel starts with a conversation with the youngest daughter. The baby is four years old, but her mother tells her in all seriousness: “Today is your day. Who is responsible for him?"