The kinship, acceptance, and rejection model of altruism and aggression (KARMAA): Implications for interpersonal and intergroup aggression.

Although evolutionary perspectives such as the inclusive fitness theory (Hamilton, 1964) have made unique contributions to explaining human altruism, their implications for interpersonal and intergroup aggression have remained largely overlooked. It is advanced that many of the same kin-based psychological mechanisms that promote altruism and prosocial behavior can be used in a similar fashion to promote or deter aggression and antisocial behavior. On the basis of a conceptual framework that incorporates evolutionary and social psychological constructs, a kinship, acceptance, and rejection model of altruism and aggression (KARMAA) is proposed. The KARMAA bridges the conceptual gap between human altruism and aggression, unites altruism and aggression under the common rubric of evolutionary psychology, and incorporates two key proximal constructs--social acceptance and rejection--that mediate the direct links between kinship cues and altruism, and between kinship insults and aggression, respectively. A critical review of the extant empirical literature supports the proposed links that comprise the KARMAA. The limitations of the KARMAA, as well as its broader implications for researching interpersonal and intergroup aggression, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)