|
HOME......
Brain Food
LINKS: ....Bird Flu Info ....Your Memory Enhancer ....Neurotech ....Success Tips ....Free Understanding the Origins of Violence and AggressionAre violent children conceived or created? Is there a neurobiological reason that a child is violent? What makes a child violent? Genes that make testosterone? Maternal neglect? Physical abuse? Modeling from a father hitting a mother? Impaired problem solving skills? Peer/gang pressures? Violence on television? Violent lyrics in music? Access to guns? In attempting to understand what makes a child violent, it is important to remember three points: 1) not all violence is the same; 2) the brain mediates all human behavior; and 3) the biological properties of the brain are the result of genotype and developmental experiences. Violence is heterogeneous. Physical violence can be impulsive, reactive or defensive; or it can be predatory, remorseless aggression. Violent behaviors can be related to intoxication from alcohol or psychosis or other neuropsychiatric conditions (e.g., dementia, traumatic head injury). Violent acts may be the result of personal (Oklahoma City bombing) or a cultural (political terrorism) belief systems. Violence can be sexualized (rape) or directed at a specific victim (domestic violence) or at a specific group (e.g., African-Americans, homosexuals, Jews). Aggression is not violence. An aggressive person may not be violent. Aggression is a behavior characterized by verbal or physical attack, yet it may be appropriate and self-protective or destructive and violent. The complex set of behaviors recognized as aggression has been studied in man and animals for many years. Thousands of studies have examined various aspects of the neurobiology of aggression ? and the summed result is a better understanding of, simply, the neurobiology of aggressive behaviors within specific contexts, (typically animal populations in experimental conditions). Unfortunately, these insights have resulted in few advances in clinical practice or public policy related to domestic or community violence. Why? Because the complexity of violence means that there is a complexity of neurobiology. The neurobiology of aggression, studied in the lab, leads to little insight into the neurobiology of racism or misogyny ? or anti-Semitism. Ironically, many violent behaviors are the result of a defensive response to perceived aggression. The neurobiology of fear, therefore, holds as many important clues to prevention and treatment interventions related to violence as the neurobiology of aggression. The neurobiology of hate ? or ideology ? remain unstudied ? yet as surely as there are neurobiological mediators of aggression, there are neurobiological mediators of ideology. HOME...... Brain Food LINKS: ....Medical Dictionary ....Stress Management ....Allergy Info |