In fact, it is now possible to identify rage and aggression circuits.įor ethical reasons, much of the research tracing the neurocircuitry of violent behavior comes from animal research. Relatively new techniques-optogenetics (an experimental method to switch neural circuits on or off) and fiber-optic cameras threaded into the brains of experimental animals to observe neurons firing during a violent attack-enable some of these questions to be answered. Since Hess’s discovery, the vital question confronting scientists for nearly a century has centered on what circuits feed into the brain’s hypothalamic attack region to activate or squelch an attack. This discovery sparked the widely popularized “lizard brain” concept, the assertion that primitive urges in humans spring from an evolutionarily ancient neural core that, in the right circumstance, provokes beastly behavior. The human brain has this same neural structure, labeled the hypothalamic attack area. When Hess stimulated this knot of neurons using a wire electrode inserted into the brain of a docile cat, the feline instantly launched into a hissing rage, attacking and killing another animal in its cage. It turns out that this is the same spot where other powerful compulsive urges and behaviors are activated, including sex, eating and drinking. In pioneering experiments on cats beginning in the late 1920s, Walter Hess discovered a locus deep within the hypothalamus, a brain area that unleashes violent aggression. Physical, sometimes deadly violence is the hub of nature’s survival-of-the fittest struggle, and all animals have evolved specialized neural circuitry to execute-and control-aggressive behavior. These new findings help to expose the underlying mechanisms at work in acts of extreme violence, such as the Las Vegas atrocity, but they also help to explain the more commonplace road rage and even a mother’s instantaneous response to any threat to her child. Using the same experimental methods that have enabled the tracing of brain circuits responsible for other complex human activities-including walking, speech and reading-neuroscientists now can pinpoint pathways that underlie aggressive behaviors. But this type of investigation can add insight into how violence is controlled by the brain. No genetic test for homicidal behavior is in the offing.
What could the scientists possibly find during such an inspection? Quite a lot, in fact. After he committed suicide at the crime scene, the mass murderer’s brain was shipped to Stanford University to seek a possible biological explanation for this depraved incident. Theoretical implications of these results and societal implications of the general framework are discussed.From his sniper’s perch on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, a lone gunman fired 1,000 bullets from high-powered rifles into a crowd of concertgoers in 2017, murdering 58 innocent people and injuring 869 others. As expected, viewing guns primed hostile cognitions and extreme temperatures did not. As expected, hot and cold temperatures increased state hostility and hostile attitudes, and viewing guns did not. Positive and negative affect, hostile attitudes, perceived comfort, and perceived arousal were also assessed. Hostile affect was assessed with the State Hostility Scale. Hostile cognition was assessed using an automatic priming task (i.e., Stroop interference). New research examining effects of extreme temperatures and photos of guns on arousal, cognition, and affect is reported. Deuser, William E.Ī general framework for studying affective aggression, integrating many insights from previous models (e.g., those of Baron, Berkowitz, Geen, and Zillmann), is presented. Examining an Affective Aggression Framework Weapon and Temperature Effects on Aggressive Thoughts, Affect, and Attitudes Examining an Affective Aggression Framework Weapon and Temperature Effects on Aggressive.Īnderson, Craig A.
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