Posted by Rodehard on January 18, 2008, 4:23 pm, in reply to "Re: Hillary and the Christian Right"
75.45.106.8
The link wouldnt work unless you were logged into yahoo but here is the content.
Humans Crave Violence Just Like Sex
Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com Thu Jan 17, 10:16 AM ET
New research on mice shows the brain processes aggressive behavior as it does other rewards. Mice sought violence, in fact, picking fights for no apparent reason other than the rewarding feeling.
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The mouse brain is thought to be analogous to the human brain in this study, which could shed light on our fascination with brutal sports as well as our own penchant for the classic bar brawl.
In fact, the researcher say, humans seem to crave violence just like they do sex, food or drugs.
Love to fight
Scientists have known that mice and other animals are drawn to fights. Until now, they didn't know how the brain was involved.
The new study, detailed online this week in the journal Psychopharmacology, reveals the same clusters of brain cells involved in other rewards are also behind the craving for violence.
"Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food," said study team member Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. "We have found that the reward pathway in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved."
Mouse brawl
For the experiments, the researchers placed a pair of mice, one male and one female, in a cage. Then, the female was removed and a so-called male intruder mouse entered the cage. That triggered aggressive behavior in the resident male. The tell-tale signs of aggression included tail rattle, an aggressive sideways stance, boxing and biting.
After the initial scuffle ended, the resident male mouse was trained to nose-poke a target to get the intruder to return. Results showed the home mouse consistently poked the target and fought with the introduced mouse, indicating, the researchers say, that the aggressive encounter was seen as a reward.
"We learned from these experiments that an individual will intentionally seek out an aggressive encounter solely because they experience a rewarding sensation from it," Kennedy said.
To figure out whether the brain's reward pathway was involved, the scientists treated the home mice with a drug to block dopamine in certain parts of the brain known to be involved in rewards like food and drugs.
The treated mice were less likely to instigate the intruder's entry. “This shows for the first time that aggression, on its own, is motivating, and that the well-known positive reinforcer dopamine plays a critical role," Kennedy said.
Human violence
Kennedy explained that the experiments have implications for humans. The reward pathway in the brains of humans and mice are very similar, he said.
"Aggression is highly conserved in vertebrates in general and particularly in mammals," Kennedy told LiveScience. "Almost all mammals are aggressive in some way or another."
He added, "It serves a really useful evolutionary role probably, which is you defend territory; you defend your mate; if you're a female, you defend your offspring."
Even though it served a purpose for other animals, in modern human societies, Kennedy said, a propensity toward aggression is not beneficial and can be a problem.
--Previous Message--
: I see the point you are making and it is
: valid, but for me I think that I have made
: the war the main issue because rightly or
: wrongly I have blamed it for or tied it
: directly to the social ills that have been
: taking its toll on the majority of
: Americans, ie; the economy, the shameful
: downfall of our currency, gas prices, etc.
: and what really is discouraging is the
: negative economic impact yet to be absorbed
: by the huge number of wounded vets that will
: be jobless and that are getting substandard
: health care, I mean I could go on and on and
: on, but I am sure you are fully aware that
: this war is sucking the life out of this
: country, it has brought wealth to the OPEC
: nations and to the haliburtons and it has
: crippled
: our ability to create jobs by securing our
: own borders, by maintaining our roadways and
: infrastructure, it has taken money from our
: education bills, I just seem to blame it all
: on this illegal war which I never supported
: from the get go and never will. I just feel
: bad for the hell that our vets are going
: through. I just want to add it's no surprise
: that the republicans, cut veterans' spending
: bills after all they sent them over to fight
: without body armor and the right type of
: vehicle's and so on, but our country has a
: record of maltreatment of vets dating back
: to the civil war, I can attest with
: certainty of the mistreatment of Vietnam era
: vets as I served in that folly myself and
: spent 3 months in an overworked,
: understaffed and underfunded va hospital in
: Shreveport, Louisiana. I guess I've gotten
: way of point here but I am bitter about this
: war and as I mentioned before right or wrong
: it has become my main reason to elect a
: person who will really end it sooner rather
: than later.
:
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: No, your assuming Im in full support of the
: "war", not true. I did support
: going in but they have mucked it up so bad
: that I can not argue with any of your
: comments. Seems the anti war crowed was more
: right than they were wrong (you listening
: Destiny?). But, I still say it shouldn't be
: the only criteria for a presidential
: candidate. Hell, it was Kennedy and Johnson
: that got us into Vietnam. Are you sorry you
: didnt vote for Nixon the first time?
: The Dems are incapable of doing what needs
: to be done in Iraq (they got no balls)and
: Bush's crowed is afraid to for fear of bad
: press (they got no balls). My point is that
: if you use the war as your only political
: sign post then you are simply naive as to
: the affairs of man, war and politics.
:
:
:
:
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