Stress and Aggression

[andrewducker]

The cycle of violence is built into mammalian brains, according to the latest issue of Behavioural Neuroscience. Scientists from Holland and Hungary have identified a fast, mutual positive feedback loop between stress hormones and a brain aggression control centre in rats.

They tested 53 rats in five experiments and found that if they stimulated the brain's aggression mechanism, they raised stress hormone levels. And if they raised hormone levels, the aggression centre went into overdrive. This would, they say, explain why aggressive behaviour escalates so easily, and why a hard day at the office could end in domestic violence.

"These stress hormones, in part by mobilising energy reserves, prepare the physiology of the body to fight or flee during stress," said Menno Kruk of the Leiden/Amsterdam Centre for Drug Research. "Now it appears these very same hormones talk back to the brain in order to facilitate fighting."

Whole article stolen from The Guardian here.

Comments

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

The cycle of violence is built into mammalian brains, according to the latest issue of Behavioural Neuroscience. Scientists from Holland and Hungary have identified a fast, mutual positive feedback loop between stress hormones and a brain aggression control centre in rats.

Oh, how I love media coverage of science. Actual scientists would never jump to the first sentence here given the second, but how many readers realize that?