I enjoy reading evolutionary psychology, but a few of these politically-incorrect "truths" seem pretty flimsy to me. (As does most psychology.) For example:
4. Most suicide bombers are MuslimSuicide missions are not always religiously motivated, but according to Oxford University sociologist Diego Gambetta, editor of Making Sense of Suicide Missions, when religion is involved, the attackers are always Muslim. Why? The surprising answer is that Muslim suicide bombing has nothing to do with Islam or the Quran (except for two lines). It has a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex.
What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don't get any wives at all.
I think the gender disparity in Muslim countries has far more to do with violence than does the relatively rare case of Muslim polygamy. Besides, it is increasingly apparent than many terrorists are wealthy, highly-educated people with plenty of mating prospects, which means that perhaps Islam as a religion is a factor....
As with most psychology, there's a lot of hand waving and theorizing without any experimentation or proof.
(HT: Marginal Revolution.)
