They combed through reputable, reliable news sources like the Associated Press, Reuters, TV networks, and national and local newspapers for data about serial murders. The researchers used the mass media method to gather data for the study. "As an evolutionary psychologist, I wondered if something left over from these old roles could be affecting how male and female serial killers choose their victims." "Historically, men hunted animals as prey and women gathered nearby resources, like grains and plants, for food," Harrison said. Harrison said that because humans lived as hunter-gatherers for about 95 percent of history, these ancient roles could help explain these differences. But while working on a previous study, Harrison started to notice a difference between male and female serial killing patterns that she was interested in exploring. While there is considerable public interest in serial killers, Harrison said there has been little research on these crimes, possibly because serial killers are relatively rare. "So if you know that men are more likely to commit a crime in a certain way and women are more likely to do it another, hopefully it can help investigators go down the correct path." "If a murder has been committed without a known suspect, you can sometimes use details of the crime to form a profile of what the perpetrator might look like," Harrison said. Marissa Harrison, associate professor of psychology at Penn State Harrisburg, said the findings could help inform murder investigations. Female serial killers tend to "gather" their victims - targeting people around them who they may already know, often for financial gain. The researchers found that male serial killers tend to "hunt" their victims, who are often strangers to them.
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