Criminal psychology has made corking pace in late years towards elucidating the outlook ofserial killers , yet few researchers have dared to grapple with the field of study of cannibalistic slaying . In an attempt to replete that macabre nihility , a team of neuroscientists from the US and Germany have published a unexampled study that categorizes the murder methods and patterns of dupe selection typically employed by murderous anthropophagus .
Explaining their findings in the journalFrontiers in Psychology , the study authors scour the net and the scientific lit to identify 121 convictedcannibalisticoffenders since 1900 . Between them , these physical body - eating murderers gather 631 dupe , yet their modus operandi tend to differ significantly from that of more conventional killer .
“ We conclude that cannibalistic homicides have a unique pattern of murder method , offenders , and victims , ” save the researcher . For example , anthropophagite were found to be old than veritable murderers , while their victims tended to be young than normal homicide victims .
Cannibalistic murders were also more probable to be sex - relate , and manual killing methods like stabbing , gag , or beating were far more uncouth than the use of triggerman . This may be connected to the fact that most cannibals committed their crime for the sheer joy of it and even seemed to get a sickening chill from selling human meat to unsuspicious customers , with many disguising their victims ’ material body as boeuf , porc , ostrich , or gymnastic horse meat .
However , what most intrigued the study authors was that anthropophagus were much more potential to prey on strangers , whereas victim of regular murders are often killed by someone they know . According to the researchers ’ statistical analysis , only 2.5 percent of cannibalistic killers point their own family members , while a significantly higher fraction of schematic homicides are perpetrate against blood relatives .
Furthermore , the small number ofcannibalswho did exhaust their own kindred were found to have the most severe mental health issues . Almost two - thirds of those who cannibalise phratry members had extreme mental wellness scores , equate to 22 percent of those who murdered and consume stranger .
While any shape of cannibalism would appear to indicate a stark genial unbalance , the subject area writer hypothecate that most offenders of this type obey a natural logic that prevents them from eating their own relatives and that only the most deranged violate this halcyon rule .
recognize that their surmise needs refining , they suggest that cannibalizing family is notevolutionarily advantageous , which is why sure cannibalistic species such as spadefoot toad polliwog never eat their blood relatives .
Obviously , world are not a naturallycannibalistic specie , but the researchers declare oneself that this same evolutionary pulsation may determine the deportment of the few individuals who do devote the deed .
