Most of you reading this live a relatively quiet, safe life far removed from violent crime. This is a tremendous blessing, but it means that when we do encounter someone who wishes us harm, we’re at a real disadvantage because we have so little experience dealing with criminals. And what you must understand in a defensive situation is that the bad guy in front of you almost certainly does not think like you. In fact, his brain might be wired entirely differently than yours.
If you think about this for a second, it’s obvious. Of course criminals think differently than you. But it happens all the time anyway: People try to reason with someone, apply logic to a given situation, or expect that A will lead to B because that’s what they would do in the same circumstances. These are dangerous assumptions when you’re dealing with a bad actor or even just with someone whose culture or life experiences are very different than yours.
What kind of dangerous assumptions might you be making because they reflect everything you know about how people are “supposed to” behave? Things like:
- Men don’t hit women
- Verbal arguments are OK, but they don’t turn physical
- No one would kill somebody over a minor insult
- A sincere apology for an accidental slight will be accepted graciously
- A criminal won’t hurt me if I give him what he asks for
- $10 isn’t worth committing a crime for
- And even the very basic premise of “We don’t solve our problems with violence.”
You and everyone you know consider these a given—but there are plenty of people out there who will absolutely do those things without a second thought because it’s normal to them. The point is, you can’t apply normal-person logic to people you don’t know, especially to the bad guy standing in front of you demanding your wallet. He doesn’t have the same values, priorities and boundaries that you have. He simply doesn’t think like you.
The nature-vs.-nurture debate will never be fully resolved, and certainly a person’s environment can have a tremendous impact on who they become. But nature plays a real role. We have plenty of research that tells us that many violent criminals actually share some cognitive traits:
Emotional regulation challenges: Studies frequently show that criminals have high rates of antisocial personality disorder—one study found that 87 percent of women and 83 percent of men had a personality disorder at the time they committed the crime that put them in prison. Brain scans on incarcerated individuals (repeat offenders) actually show less gray matter or lower activity in the prefrontal cortex—which is the part of the brain that governs decision-making, impulse control and evaluating the long-term consequences of actions.
In short, many criminals don’t regulate their emotions well, which is reflected in some of the other characteristics on this list.
Extreme selfishness and ego: Self-gratification tends to be the top or even the sole priority of the violent criminal. Getting what he wants is all that matters. He assumes he’s correct about everything and thinks this justifies doing anything that feels good to him.
Inflated sense of entitlement: Criminals feel entitled to something just because they want it. They expect to get what they want, and in their mind, it’s perfectly reasonable that the entire world should cater to them because the world “owes them.” They tend to see other people and things as objects to be manipulated and maneuvered for their benefit.
Lack of self-control: There’s a tendency among violent criminals to be impulsive and to act without thinking. On average, they live in the spur of the moment because they process risk differently or not at all, with a decreased ability or likelihood to think about long-term consequences of their actions. They might experience extreme mood swings, anxiety or, very commonly, aggression.
Lack of empathy: “Put yourself in someone else’s shoes” is a totally foreign concept to many violent criminals. Their selfish tendencies make them disregard how their actions affect anyone else. Interestingly, one study found that many criminals do have the capacity for empathy and caring but are able to shut it off at will, like flipping a switch. They might be extremely tenderhearted and kind to animals or children, for example, or empathetic in some situations and not others, but the switch can always be flipped.
Lack of accountability: Because they’re more egocentric than the average person, violent actors tend to blame others for everything that goes wrong in their lives. You think you’re the victim of their attack, but in their mind, they see themselves as the victim because you’re standing between them and what they want. If they’re caught, they feel like a victim of the justice system because they’re facing a consequence or penalty.
Black-and-white thinking: Criminals have a higher tendency to see the world in stark, all-or-nothing terms. They don’t consider shades of gray, and they’re not willing to compromise, because that means they’ll get less than everything they want. In a bad guy’s mind, he’s right and you’re wrong and that’s the end of it.
The fact of the matter is that violent criminals have different values, priorities, personalities, and goals than you do. They don’t think like you or follow logic the way you’d expect. They make decisions totally differently than the average person and don’t follow the social scripts that govern polite society. On average, their brains are literally different than ours, in a way that makes them both dangerous and unpredictable. Because they live in the moment, a criminal might not even know what he’s going to do next. While there are some general guidelines for dealing with resource predators and process predators, the truth is that you can’t afford to make assumptions about how someone will act based on your own logic and reasoning. Your own judgement and intuition will be your best guide to surviving a criminal encounter.
