Alfredo Lorenzi

An Introduction to Violent Behavior psychology:

Description, Assessment and Prevention

Pubblished for: Violent Behavior and Prevention Research Center – VBRC Australia

Associazione Studio e Ricerca Comportamenti Violenti - CRCV- Italy

2004 - Creative Commons Attribute 3.0 License

http://psicov.blogspot.com/

albertolo502@gmail.com
Introduction

In this book I tried to treat violent matter within a prevalent approach based on
behavior psychology and biology, with a look at other paradigms. A particularly
attention was given to description of the violence in different sets and environments,
searching to include most relevant and reliable studies. Another goal was to delineate a
spread introduction to most effective prevention projects, so I introduced and
discussed a large number of different strategies and prevention projects, so I
introduced and discussed a large number of different strategies and prevention
projects.

In conclusion, this work should be a concise but comprehensive introduction to this

complex matter, for which there are many books but often treating more specific
aspects.

This book is under Creative Commons, so you may shared it and use for non
commercial purpose, giving citations to author. That’s all.

If you want to communicate with me, you can mail to:

albertolo502@gmail.com

Alfredo Paul Lorenzi

Master degree in Biology and Psychology

Former researcher at Biosincr - Basilea

Visiting res. at UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute Ca.

Chapter one - Aggression and Violence

1.1 Aggression, violence and social modulation.

Within ethological theory Konrad Lorenz’s intraspecific aggression is based on

observational methodology implemented in natural settings, built on the concept of
instinct and motor components that express the different impulses that find expression
in behavior. The term instinct, in German, is used to denote an internal state agency
and Lorenz uses it to denote the energy component of instinct, setting out:
neurophysiological organization that translates into a series of complex behavioral
patterns. A definition without anything purely quantitative, that is mystical and
intangible assets on the contrary had characterized the earlier ones. Even the concept
of energy is typically neurophysiological, referring to a series of alternating states of
arousal of CNS. Lorenz identified four main drives: hunger, sex, aggression and flight
instinct, selected during evolution and placed at the base of relevant physiological
functions, the result of more partial drives, or more than a drive which, acting
simultaneously,determine motivated behavior. Motivational analysis is the method used
by Lorenz to explain the behavior and is divided into three phases: knowing the
content of revenue input, breakdown of motor behavior in separate modules and then
analysis of individual modules. To attribute a functional significance to the behavior,
Lorenz took a path that links the interpretative analysis of the antecedents and
consequent movements: starting from a context, he considers the relationships that
are forming between individuals and the environment, analyzing the terms and
instinctive forms of movement and linking with the final situation.

Motivational analysis is a method that put also the ethological basis for the
observation of human behavior in natural settings, on the assumption that each
individual acts on the drive of instincts variously combined, provided we understand
the derivatives of the basic instincts. For example, hunger is not limited to the mere
obtaining of food, but deals with the accumulation of wealth and everything that
stands with these objectives.
Sex is not only reproduction but combined with other components and encountering
cultural aspects, assumes complex and multifaceted meanings and values, as we think
of the value of virginity or use mercenary sexual function, only to make two simple
examples. Intraspecific aggression considered by Lorenz, therefore, serves a useful
function for survival, allowing a better individual fitness. The critical aspect of the
exposure of Lorenz is the attempt to explain human aggression and destructiveness
with the loss of inhibitory mechanisms commonly observed in nature, assuming a lower
threshold trigger in relation to environmental conditions of constraint.
 Freud postulated the existence of a primitive impulse originated from the id, called
the libido, an object of psychic investment in the form of narcissism and projected onto
objects, such as object-libido, and only after, the author has described additional
components located in the ego drives self, in particular the aggressive drive. Libido,
with its aggressive component, originates from the id is primitive and service to the
primary process while leaving the ego at the service of reality and the control of
homeostasis. In "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", 1920, the author comes to delineate
two major opposing instinctual engines, one part named libido and the instincts of life,
the other named the death instinct, which is described as a tendency to the total
absence of tensions, of which the aggression was outward directed component.

Just the death instinct is the basis of Melanie Klein’s theory, moving from first object
relations requires the existence of a complex mechanism, projective identification,
whereby the child identifies the subject as the feeding breasts and target of its
investment drive and object instances on which to project aggressive and destructive
feelings, resulting from the absence of a cohesive self and identifying the parent object
as a container for these pressures. The basis of Klein’s theory, in keeping with Freud
and Abraham, is the conception of an original aggressive instance, determined by the
instinct of death. Other authors, notably Kernberg and Kohut, have been distanced
from the concept of death instinct, theorizing an aggressive response not dependent
on a primitive biologically determined instinct.

Behavioral psychology does not allow instinctual components, so the behavior is the
result of learning arising from individual interaction with environmental inputs.
Behavioral psychologists have been interested in aggressive behavior with the Dollard
and coll. study of 1939 "Frustration and Aggressivity" in which it was argued that
aggression was considered in conjunction with individual frustration and social
expectation. Recent riots in the banlieues of Paris can be spotlight by this theory, as a
reaction to living conditions that do not match the expectations of the rebels, young
people born in France, who attended the schools and have no access to social and
economic position corresponding to those of their peers, unable to access work areas
and all that goes with it, like the ability to be attractive to peers from higher social
level. If this theory can explain the outbursts of aggression and violence in large cities,
where inequality of living conditions are particularly conspicuously, does not explain
individual aggressiveness. Just Lorenz, in his essay of 1964, "Zur Naturgeschichte der
Aggression", refers failure of the practice of bringing up children in the absence of
frustration, the negative consequences on their mental state and showing not any less
aggressive than others, as adults.
Aggression theory formuated by Bandura and coll., put in relation child's aggressive
and violent behavior of an observed model to consequences that occur : if the model
was awarded the child will imitate him, but if it follows negative effects the child do not
tend to conform his behavior to that of the model. Aggression is therefore a cultural
option behavior to imitate depending as the effects that fall on the model: a young
successful manager, aggressive and unscrupulous, inspire other people to imitate him,
as the characters in a comic book or a movie, recompensed for their mischief, would
become models for children. We must add that modern behavioral psychology has
changed his views on instinct: infact, many authors have long recognized an instinctive
human behavior.

A third approach to aggression is that of evolutionary psychology, which refers to

Darwin's Theory Of Evolution, ethology, cognitive psychology and sociobiology.
Recognizing the importance of adaptation (fitness) to environment, behaviors are
related to different developmental levels, such as environmental fitness, reproductive
success, both as a species and as individuals, and the ability to survive. It’s
immediately clear difference with other psychological approaches: here it’s recognized
that the body has a CNS able to express instinctual behaviors, not unlike other species
of nonhuman primates, while not disavowing the enormous weight of cultural and
environmental factors.
In the context of evolutionary psychology, some authors, among which Cosmides and
Tooby, grant a considerable emphasis on theory of Dowkins, known as " selfish gene
theory ''. We may define altruistic, according to this theory, a behavior that reduces
the possibility of reproducing their own genes to the benefit of other people's genes
and not to be confused altruistic with prosocial behavior, which do not involves
reducing chances of survival: yielding food for others when one has excess is quite
different than yelding when it has just the amount for itself. It should be enough clear
that concept of reproductive success implies a high dose of altruistic and prosocial
behavior, at least just enough to allow the children to survive, but also a great deal of
selfishness, at least just enough to balance the shared genes, so altruistic behaviors
are less likely the lower the number of shared genes.
Selfish behaviors are not directly correlated with those of control and aggression, in
fact, be more or less selfish does not imply a corresponding dose of more or less
aggressive behavior however, depends on the environmental context and actors
motivations.

Primitive populations and social animals, represented a simplified model of

investigation for the leadership conduct and competition: among nonhuman primates,
the two species investigated are the chimpanzees and bonobos, which differ more for
the social and behavioral aspects that physical characteristics. Chimpanzees are
organized in hierarchical paths into clans and and are characterized by great intensity
aggressive manifestations; bonobos, however, are organized under a matriarchal
model in which the females, not necessarily the younger ones, are able to influence
and regulate aggression and competition for younger ones through a concerted
strategy in which sex is the basis of relationships. Bonobos are generally more
peaceful, there are no reports of infanticide and ambushes between neighboring
groups, or high rates of murder as observed in chimpanzees. Since the two species
occupy similar environments, the differences regards expression of aggression are to
be sought in the different modes of their social organization. Females role played in
bonobo through their continued sexual availability is essential in reducing outbreaks of
violence, whenever in chimpanzees, conflicts frequently erupt into aggression and
violence.
In our technological society we do not consider the aggressive evil in itself, if
expressed in conventional form accepted by the majority of its members. Hold
particular social position is linked to the likelihood of reproductive success both among
chimpanzees, both in primitive peoples and in western societies: in those different
cultures, expression of aggression is associated with survival and reproduction, but
only in Bonobos, sexual activity takes place in a very detached way, taking on
characteristics comparable to those of our Western societies.
In humans, aggression is certainly expressed in more varied and complex ways, but
the basic mechanisms are not very different, with basic needs for achievement, power
and control, but It must stress that in the human competitive relationships are
present aspect and values that differentiate it from all other species, in particular as
regards the concept of fairness which underlies the reasonable confidence that
competition will take place on an equal footing and will won by the man who will prove
most adapted: in essence, that the results of competition reflect the principle that
everyone has his own, according to its merits. The perception that competition has
coursed in a unfair manner, opens the way to the usual compensatory mechanisms,
such as revenge on subordinates and outsiders, with at length aggressive plans for
revenge, violence, disease and self illness.

1.2 Biological bases of Aggression

In neuroscience, aggression is commonly defined as offensive behavior manifestation

elicited by environmental triggers or cues and aiming for survival. Triggers were
selected during evolution and behaviors are related to the fitness, including searching
for food, sex and protection from enemies, but there are also triggers learned in life,
which mark a differential line between individuals related to environmental fitness. For
example, rats reared in isolation, as adults placed in front of its natural predator,
completely freezes, including the eyeballs, a kind of paralysis triggered by natural cues,
and if the cat show predation behavior and rat has no escape routes, it will activate a
second instinctive response as paradoxical; shall rise on its hind legs, leaping and acute
squeaking will attack the predator and trying to bite him nose. These fight or fly
reactions are thus completely innate but others avoidance behaviours, e.g. specific
toxic or poisoning substances contained in foods, can be learned and transferred to
other individuals through imitation models, or others learned behaviour. The reason is
obvious: while each individual will had to learn alone avoiding poisoning foods, the
group and the species shall be in danger, so evolution allow transferred imitative
avoidance behaviours, more quickly to learn.
During '60s, MacLean suggested a functional model of the Central Nervous System
(CNS), on phylogenetic and functional development based. His theory is that our brain
is composed of the brains of our ancestors and it represents the evolution, so he
identify a primitive or reptilian brain, which corresponds to the spinal cord and the
lower portion of the brainstem, responsible for controlling autonomic responses and
instinctive motor patterns, a second brain, paleocortex, including the subcortical
structures, particularly the limbic lobe and the hypothalamus, responsible for emotional
states, aggression and sex. Finally, the third brain or neo-cortex coincides exactly with
cortical areas of mammals and determine the behaviors and more evolved functions.
Anatomical and functional brain studies classically divided it into three sections,
midbrain, hindbrain and forebrain that do not coincide perfectly with the model of Mac
Lean; as the last includes diencephalon, hypothalamus, limbic lobe and neocortex. To
explore the neural basis of aggression leads to emotional circuits, which share the
same anatomical structures and evolutionary origin. Below we shall summarize the
more meaningful knowledge about.
We can discern the brain areas involved in two functional distinct behavioral patterns
regulation, (Le Doux, 1986):

· Emotional behavior, including reactions of fight and flight, searching for food,
sexuality and social relations, mediated predominantly by portions of the limbic
forebrain;

· Cognitive behavior, includes the more complex functions, thought, language,

reasoning and imagination, mediated by the cortex over the limbic lobe (neocortex).

Emotional behavior stems from different functional units that mediate specific
emotions, from natural input transferred to an evaluation unit which is capable of
learning from experience, having the chance to form memories of inputs-
configurations, enabling related outputs; in this way, with time, individual may also
associates typically emotional reactions to learned triggers. The responses consist of
early and specific behavioral patterns in relation to the evaluation of triggers and
selected for the survival.
Emotional behavior’s patterns are formed before those cognitive and when we speak of
evaluation of a trigger, it is good to have in mind that this feature does not include a
level of awareness at this stage because the conscious analysis and evaluation will be
not only unuseful but it would lose valuable time that could cost lives. So the response
is autonomic but after the input entered, it’s transferred to analysis cortical areas,
where there is also awareness. An example: we are walking in darkness, when
suddenly we hear that something is moving under our feet and tickles them, suddenly
we raise the leg, without realizing that is a harmless twig. Emotional brain is concerned
primarily to establish a detection and preparing a response, delegating to overlying
cortical portions regulation of emotional circuits, involving prefrontal cortex. Among
mammals, this evolutionarily more recent cortex is possessed only by humans and it is
divided into areas, including the one that most affects the regulation of emotion and
aggressiveness, that is orbitofrontal cortex (OFC).
Put simply, the areas involved in emotion regulation circuit are: the OFC, amygdala,
(keep in mind that is a bilateral shared nucleus), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC),
hippocampus, insular cortex, hypothalamus, ventral striatum and their assonals
structures. More relevant studies have been conducted on rodents, monkeys and
humans, both living and dead with results that do not yet allow to unravel all the
complex mechanisms for fine tuning of the circuits involved but giving us scientifically
validated basis.
The focus of the system seems to be the amygdala, an almond shaped structure
located in a middle position between forebrain and primitive brain, which revealed its
activity in the detection of facial expressions of negative emotions such as fear, anger
and disgust. The evidence is very clear: patients with bilateral lesions of the lateral
nucleus of the amygdala and only this one, show difficulty or inability to recognize
facial expressions of fear. Not only, the increase in the spike of this nucleus at the
perception of images representing faces expressing fear or anger, is associated with an
increase in frequency discharge of corresponding areas in OFC and ACC. The
significance of this increase was seen in relation to the regulation of the expression of
the circuits of anger and fear manifestations. Probably the reason for a reflexive
behavior is due to increase in frequency discharge of these two areas, which feeds
back on the same amygdala, inhibiting it: individuals characterized by particularly
aggressive and violent behavior, angry with impulsivity, appear to be deficient in these
circuits, which not increase the activities as the inputs perception, exerting an effect of
"emotional cooling " as it has been colorfully named.
Analysis of neuroimaging showing low activity of these two areas to the presentation of
priming cues, may allow us to identify in advance, with instrumental behavior, those
subjects characterized by a particular form of aggression, marked by not finalized
impulsivity and explosiveness . Not only that, also the vulnerability to attack has been
linked to the malfunctioning of these two areas, with inability to "reverse" the negative
emotional state in a neutral. Furthermore, a significant loss of mass in these areas is
shown in approximately 60% of violent individuals. Subjects killed after violent fights
and investigated to neuroimaging, have almost always shown abnormalities in OFC and
AAC areas, which being under performing are associated with volume loss due to
neural synaptic disconnections. Specularly, neuroimaging of subjects identified as likely
candidates to emit violent behavior were duly confirmed to be those who were
convicted of violent rape and murder.

There are other predictors of violent behavior, anger and suicide made in a cruel
ways and pointed on serotonin neurotransmitter, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT), an
organic amine with the amino acid tryptophan hydroxylated in position 5. This
molecule is synthesized at the level of pirenoforous and transferred via axonal flow up
to axon tip, where is released in the synaptic cleft. There may be several anomalies in
this stage; e.i. the synthesis is unusual for polymorphism in the gene encoding, the
stream is bad for abnormalities of axonal cytoskeletal proteins and the release site is
not equipped with effective enzymes for his releas, diffusion may not be synchronous
with post synaptic staff; then presynaptic reuptake of the molecule may be inefficient,
and finally plasma transport protein is abnormal. Then there are all issues that affect
the post synaptic receptor level not listed here, limiting the description of the points
involving a single neurotransmitter only to stress the level of biological complexity of
neural functioning.
CNS contains a channel filled with fluid, which extends into the spinal cord and wraps
it, keeping the brain in suspension and protecting it from shock and trauma, which can
be traced back several metabolites of neurons metabolic activities. One of the
metabolites of 5-HT is 5-hydroxy indoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), the quantity of which was
seen to correlate with the amount of 5-HT at presynaptic level (which does not mean
that coincides with the amount released into the slot ). The amount of 5-HIAA has
been a good predictor in identifying children at risk of violence and suicide and violent
adults who will be relapse violent actions.
Another substance that has been shown to correlate with levels of aggression of the
subjects, providing a further indication as always based on 5-HT levels, is fenfluramine,
an agonist of postsynaptic 5-HT that when administered to normal subjects causes a
corresponding increase in prolactin levels, providing an index of levels of 5-HT in the
brain. Accordingly, impulse control and violence prone individuals have a very low
response in the levels of prolactin when administered a dose of fenfuramina, whereas
normal subjects have a marked increase in prolactin levels.

Fluids investigations revealed no predictive accuracy similar to those of neuroimaging,

including the level of complexity of serotonergic pathways and their anomalies, as
mentioned above. It 'possible that low levels of 5-HIAA correlated with other
characteristics such as tendencies to depression, mood, or more frequently altered
cyclicity in mood regulation signal the presence of obsessive and compulsive disorders,
that appear linked to the role of amygdala, which is predominantly dopaminergic and
abnormalities of serotonin transporter protein, which carries the signals conduction by
the amygdala to their deputies development centers in the prefrontal cortex. However,
it is certain that people with compulsive disorders exhibit characteristics of excessive
activation of medial and lateral prefrontal areas, exactly the opposite of violent ones.

A final predictive parameter of aggression, involves the enzyme that hydrolyzes the
tryptophan, allowing its use in the composition of serotonin. This enzyme, tryptophan
hidrossilasi (TPH) in normal subjects is encoded by a gene L , whenever in the violent
are observed alternative pleomorphic forms type U. The gene is called TPH A218C and
form LL, with double L alleles is found in normal individuals, while those with only L
allele or dyizigote form U or omozygote UU characterize individuals showed aggressive
and violent. Postsynaptic level, the 5-HT receptors are densely distributed at PFC and
ACC, especially the serotonin receptor type 2. In normal subjects, administration of
fenfuramina causes increased absorption of glucose at the level of prefrontal areas,
especially the ventro medial limbic involved with the amygdala activity, whereas in
violent subjects, fenfuramina injection has revealed to the PET no significant increase
in activity in the corresponding areas. The significance of this difference is still being
studied but it can be argued that violents are characterized by abnormalities in limbic
and prefrontal areas, where the 5-HT plays mediating role in impulses conduction. (In
this regard, clinicians should clearly fear the effects of a high dose of serotonin
administered to depressed or obsessive, to urge the risk of impulsive and violent
behavior by discontrol, as well as establishing basic angry mood).
Although anomalies of the temporal lobe are involved, particular forms seizures
involving the limbic system, which is a part, may lead to behavior characterized by
outbursts of violence discharged on objects and people, sudden, unmotivated and not
linked to the state and environmental relationships that precede them , Change in the
affective tone was sudden, in connection with the seizure of deep structures, onset
between two and ten minutes, followed by muscle relaxation, eventually a period of
cognitive disorientation, with derealization and depersonalization, lasting between ten
minutes and several hours, ending with the recovery of wellness.
1.3 Environmental influences and development of CNS

The brain of non human primates, and especially that of man is subject to
considerable postnatal modeling that lasts up to full sexual maturity and
subsequently,until the second decade of life. Enviromental role at this stage is crucial
in modulating neural connections, that are made between brain areas, related to a
predetermined time scan.

A critical period, or sensitive period, is a bounded part of the life of an organism, in

which are established and consolidated specific axonal connections, which usually
become irreversible and where the role played by the cues and their onset is crucial.
We refer also to; experience – dependent connections, meaning that environmental
inputs are alternated according to a precise temporal onset, providing the trigger for
the increased axonal guidance to the activated areas.
Ultimately, a critical period of development is a particular aspect of neuronal plasticity,
in which genetic and behavioral factors are combined at temporally defined stages,
resulting in a typical connection of the neural systems involved, which are calibrated,
that is connected and functional rules in a typical way (Lorenzi, 1997). The critical
periods are interdependent in the sense that the calibration circuit to prepare the next
stage which will affect other circuits and pathways, according to a waterfall model.
Therefore, the regulation deficit does not tend to generalize beyond a certain limit,
since the connection seems to follow a modular pattern, involving brain areas that
carry specialized functions. Referring to the role of environmental cues, it must pay
attention to their characteristics, namely, quality and intensity, onset time, duration
and ending: in this sense, cues are judged adequate if complying with the parameters
selected during evolution of the species.
Konrad Lorenz introduced the concept of critical periods in the study of behavior,
referred to the comments on small wild goose that had shown how, in a short period
of time after the eggs hatch, the chicks develop preferences for an individual whose
are exposed, enabling continuing behavior.
After Lorenz, Ethologists have been interested in the phenomena of imprinting and
along with developmental psychologists, have unanimously found that that period was
not as stiff as described by Lorenz, have therefore suggested the term more elastic
"sensitive period" and "window of opportunity ", to indicate a fairly broad time frame in
which the experience can still take place. Given that, the literature has continued to
use the original term; in this work we will use the term critical period (cp), referring to
the meaning of sensitive period, (s.p.).
The study of birdsong has been for decades at the heart of ethological and
neurobiological research, and even with the obvious difficulties in making comparisons
with the language of man, gave a series of instructions on PCs related to the
development of language and other complex functions. One of the acquisitions that
has shown a remarkable degree of generalization in all species investigated by
observation or experiment sets, is the possibility of extending the PC when normal
experiences did not take place as scheduled evolution time, or when taken place so
altered, compared to typical cues of the species and development environment.
Therefore there are two ways to alter individual’s developmental pace:
· altering temporal sequence in which inputs are presented, which can be realized in
different ways, such cues are early or late, or are presented for a time too short or
long;
· inputs are qualitatively or quantitatively altered, for example, are too weak or too
intense or together are uncoordinated and do not reach a valid structuring
configuration.

It was found that in these situations, experiences belatedly tried allowed the recovery
of function deficits, but only partially and with persistence of behavioral problems; was
also found that the later experiences were more effective when they were carried
through a continuous repetition of inputs or with a more intense stimulation or both. In
this paper we consider the possibility of the existence of a PC for attachment and its
implications when it is disturbed by unfavorable environmental conditions.
Significance of mother-child relationship has been remarked by Sigmund Freud, (1940)
as "unique and unchanging over time, as the first and strongest love object and
prototype of relationships of love." Ainsworth (1973), described the attachment:
"Development of an emotional relationship between child and caregiver that lasts a
specific time and space in different contexts." Infants usually develop an emotional
relationship with their caregivers between 6 and 12 months, coinciding with the
capacitation to generate expectations about the behavior of others (Lamb and Malkin,
1986).
According to Ainsworth, (1967 and 1978), attachment has a meaning even
qualitatively; could consist of a secure and an insecure form. The secure form relates
with relational communication pattern of the caregiver, such as the ability to respond
to signals from the infant in a warm and timely manner; is a skill that does not need to
be learned because it has been selected by the evolution, but some mothers may be
deficient because of disturbances and changes in mother-child relationship during their
own growth. Evolution has prepared cerebral areas for recognition of facial expressions
of emotion and respond to them, and there is evidence that women have more
functions deputies to respond to signals of infants: the attachment does not coincide
with the simple physical contact, warmth and closeness, but involves an exchange of
cues and responses that involve brain specifically designated areas activated during the
course of deep emotional interactions, other than those that generate only physical
and sexual attraction.
The quality of attachment affects many aspects of psychological development: how to
look to the world and explore the environment, the concept of self, emotional
regulation and relational skills.
· for emotional regulation, as a function of attachment, refers to the ability of
caregivers to reduce the anxiety and fear when baby experiences new situations or
during the course of rapid change and the incentive to explore the environment by
fostering feelings security, provided what Bowlby calls "exploration from a secure
base”.
· promotion of self-efficacy is the other major function of attachment and is realized
through caregivers ability to respond in a timely and warmly manner to signals of the
child, its needs and its intentions.

If these answers are properly issued, the child will enhance his sense of self-efficacy
and emotional competence and will be able to master adverse conditions and tolerate
frustration. Development of social skills takes the imprint of the quality of interaction
with the caregiver, in the sense that the child will tend to establish relationships
exporting relational model with its caregiver. Under normal conditions, i.e. when they
realized the three conditions necessary for proper development of attachment;

- regular and consistent relation

- reciprocity of interactions
- ability of caregiver to administer the child's anxiety,

by the end of the first year of life is observed the establishment of a strong attachment
quality, but not always things go the right way, especially when a baby is born in a
poor environment, which is likely to involve other adverse conditions which threaten
the stability of a secure attachment. An important question for researchers concerned
whether the quality of attachment was stable over time, or if he could change. Teti et
al. (1996), noted in a study of a small sample of children, secure attachment of the
firstborn preschool can become unsafe when such situations that alter the mother-child
relationship, particularly when the mother is subject to depression and anxiety and for
the birth of a sibling.
Depression, has been the most influential and frequently among the conditions
related to change, and poor performance of the marriage relationship, showed little
influence when a solid secure attachment was established. When a baby has no
chance to develop an initial attachment and grows in conditions of emotional
deprivation is still able to develop it at a later stage but its quality, in these cases
depends on a number of factors. The longitudinal study of Chisholm, (1995 and 1998),
on children reared in Romanian orphanages in conditions of great emotional
deprivation, and subsequently adopted by Canadian families, has helped to clarify a
number of questions about the consequences of a failure to initial attachment.

 Adopted children within three months and before the four months of age,
following checks to two years and three years, shown they all had developed a
secure attachment with their adoptive parents, almost all belonging to the
middle or upper middle class, good education and high motivation in the
adoption of a child.

 Adopted children at the age of one year or more, at checks, for about one third
have developed secure attachment while the remaining two thirds showed
insecure attachment relationships, and about half, showed disorganized and
bizarre behavior.

So, when adverse conditions occur, however the attachment is accomplished but
requires an extra effort and produce negative consequences, resulting... " In the form
of deficits in emotional regulation and ability to form relationships with peers, based on
a mutual positive approach ", (Maccaby, 1983). The quality of attachment in any way,
is not the only variable that affects the socio-emotional development, on personality
traits and dispositions, and the emergence of problems in childhood: some functions,
such as the perception of self, require holding mental processes developed after the
first major attachment took place, (Sroufe et al., 1999) and, ultimately, it seems more
likely that first attachment may constitute a model, a prototype for the close relations
of the early years of life but not necessarily for all future relationships.
Critical periods are also called "experience dependent plasticity," indicating that early
experience during a defined period of time, called the "window of opportunity", drives
reorganization of synaptic's cells brain in a particularly sensitive way, just during an
early determined stage of development; after this step, sensitivity tends to decline,
although is still possible to lead changes on subsequent plasticity, but it needs a more
intense and prolonged stimulation time. There are two types of experiences that affect
neuronalplasticity:

·Experience-expectant

·Experience-dependent

The first refers to normal developmental experiences and which normally takes place
as part of the environment of the species (e.g., vision, hearing, language acquisition).
This kind of experience is based, on a neurophysiological level, on the so called,
"selective pruning" of more excessive synapses at birth. The disease called " fragile X
syndrome", depending on a defective gene encoding a protein that removes surplus
synapses, demonstrates that the excess synapses is a neuroanatomical and functional
causal factor of brain damage. The second form concerns the specific experiences of
an individual within its physical, social and cultural environment; plasticity here is
conveyed by new synapses that lead to memories and problem solving abilities, used in
future situations. These are experiences connecting with long-term memory and
learning skill, two functions sharing some very complex brain areas, particularly the
control memories unit of hippocampus. Each individual, according to the environment
inputs, depicts experiences that affect his ability to know its and others emotional
state, reacting to both, regulate the attentional and motivational state, its way to
analyze data and resolve problems and its skills and abilities.

An issue that requires to further explore, concerns a complex function, indicated by

the term attention, which is not an obvious property of the CNS but rather a function
that is subject to a number of processes, regulating and cabling settings probably
inserted in earlyp.c. that may be affected by numerous anomalies. Recently, Harmon
and Cox (1997), have proposed a model that links the function of emotional processing
in the frontal lobe and its influence on attention. Left frontal lobe would be area to try
and regulate the emotions defined "approach behavior”, object-oriented
rapprochement, while the right is associated with emotions “withdrawal behaviors ",
leading to keeping away and withdrawal. Emotional states in response to external
inputs, such as irritability and calm, would be affected by the child's capacity to direct
attention toward inputs that generate wellness, distracting him from those that create
boredom and irritation; difference in attentional capacity would help to determine
asymmetries in the frontal lobes related to different emotional experiences level of
their own development context.

Infants raised with a depressed mother showed difficulties in the acquisition of

emotional control, (Dawson et al., 1994 and Sameroff et al., 1982), probably because
of insufficient stimulation received in relation to attentional discrimination of emotional
state.It was observed that maternal depressive condition is also evident in reduction of
emotional states expression, hinder the process of emotional kindling of the newborn
and, more generally, interfering negatively in the mother-infant communication.
Dawson et al. (1994), based on neuroimaging studies, have observed that asymmetric
activation of frontal lobes seems to be a function induced by early environmental
inputs set, an experience-expectant, made primarily from responses of the newborn to
maternal emotional states, and have assumed that this way, the frontal cortex will be
wired so as to adjust the state of excitement (arousal) and emotional relationship, to
that of the caregiver. Therefore not only the genetic conditions at birth but also
environmental inputs, combine to configure the proper functionality of the frontal
lobes, which tends to become stable and difficult to reverse in next years.

Early experiences of physical and emotional abuse, impact negatively on the

hippocampus in a feedback mechanism proposed by LeDoux, (1998). In stressful
situations, amygdala, enabled to appraisal, based on recognition of environmental
signals eliciting emotions, feedback on hypothalamus to instruct pituitary gland
releasing factors for stress hormones secretion. Hippocampus, involved in training
long-term memory and learning, in stress situations is deputy to cognitive evaluation,
(appraisal) and whether assessing the situation as positive, it sends signals that feed
back on amigdala, inhibiting it, but if the stress persists too long, can not mantain this
activity level, enter into suffering and begins to degenerate, with marked loss of
dendrites, and later, also cell bodies. Autopsies on the brains of children who have
suffered repeated abuse, and in subjects with post traumatic stress disorder, revealed
a clear reduction in the hippocampus due to loss of synapses and cell bodies.

Among the typical symptoms of this condition are loss of memories related to
stressful events and difficulties in storing subsequent events connected with it;
typically those who have experienced a strong emotional trauma prove very difficult to
recall, an example of adaptation entailing negative consequences that may try to limit
through the administration of substances which are able to act on the hippocampus,
inhibiting its activity, so as to prevent its degeneration caused by stress.
We have long-established evidence that fetus reacts to stressful events of the mother
and may suffer adverse effects on postnatal motor and emotional development;
mother’s physical trauma can pass on fetus and may reflect a number of incidental or
voluntary-causes:

· typically incidental causes may be prenatal, (accidental falls for a pregnant woman,
domestic and road accidents); perinatal conditions, which occur near term, eg. long
umbilical cord that is wrapped over the head and neck fel fetal anoxia and other
conditions involving pain and neurological; neonatal, they refer to complications that
occur after childbirth.

· voluntary causes are related to violence on pregnant woman, typically domestic

violence and early conditions of neglect and carelessness of newborn. Other causes
may depend on disease, poverty and isolation of the mother.

It can be said that all the physical and emotional conditions having a negative impact
on the mother and in general about the caregiver, affect the fetus and child, distorting
the course of critical periods, although it is currently not available a precise knowledge
of the causal factors and their effects. To date there are no systematic neurofunctional
studies on children effect to violence exposure, whether direct or indirect, such as
watching violent programs, and the activity of the hippocampus but we know that
children who experienced abuse disorders, developed characteristic including memory
difficulties, inattention and lack of skill in the use of learning strategies, that may
underlie hippocampal abnormalities which can be confused with typical childhood
problems, such as learning disabilities, conduct and attentional deficits, which have
different etiological origin. In human culture has been noted, by many authors
belonging to different disciplines, that individual's socialization and acculturation
process, has assumed the characteristics of excessive artificiality and constraint, in an
effort to comply with the continuing and increasing demands of a complex social
environment and continuous transformation, undergoing a stressful cognitive training
and inadequate to evolution stages of development, favoring, in susceptible
individuals, the development of symptoms and maladaptive disorders (see the complex
phenomenon called "hikiko Mori" in Japanese youth, characterized by a particular form
of social withdrawal). Physically violent behaviors are not a typical form that occurs
frequently in social situations where abuse and coercion are made with aggressive
non-physical manifestations.
Differences in the role and power imply conditions that favor the reduction of degrees
of freedom and individual situations of abuse: just such differences reduce the use of
physical violence within a group, on the assumption that individuals can achieve their
plans with minimal use of physical coercion. Within a family, the parent may use
coercion for the purpose of education, in a factory can be adopted measures against
defaulting, and the state can use violence and weapons to maintain public order.
Aggression also depends on the particular role and function that an individual is
doing: threatening the existence of a puppy, in almost all species provoke aggressive
maternal huge effort that would not be implemented in different circumstances: in the
example, aggression is a response to the service of altruism, but it must understand
what is meant by altruism in biology and evolutionary psychology.
We already mentioned altruistic behavior is that reduces the possibility of reproducing
their own genes, for the benefit of others individuals' genes, under the theoretical
assumption that each individual aspires to maximize the transmission of their genes. A
major problem for Wilson and Dowkins was precisely to explain altruistic behavior,
frequently observed in nature, as the theory of evolution, based on individual fitness,
would be falsified. Dowkins identified in the "Hamilton’s rule" the key to interpreting
the altruistic behavior, which covered in a theory called "selfish gene", which moves
the rule of Hamilton, explain altruism in terms of inclusive fitness, where inclusive
means that in parallel to individual fitness, for the individual is also important
propagation of genes of conspecifics. We know that the genes a parent transfers in
each child represents 50% of his genetic outfit and more he generates and the greater
the number of genes that survive: it follows that, in nature, individual who has
generated only one descendant, will transfer only half of its genetic oufits and this will
take a lot of energy trying to survive off-spring, but do not employ as much energy for
the survival of a hypothetical fourth or fifth child and, more generally, the greater the
number of children and the lower the investment that a parent is willing to do in each
of them to ensure their survival. In other words, the care decreases with increasing the
number of puppies, that is to say that altruistic behavior is attenuated when the genes
are passed down in large numbers. In nature, altruistic behaviors are actually
individual and species behavior guided by survival instinct: two conspecifics share a
much higher number of genes compared to any other individual of different species,
finding that underlies altruism and solidarity. Reducing survival chances for benefit of a
stranger, is a selfish behavior least just enough to balance the number of genes
shared.
1.4 Media and Aggression

Media includes a diverse range of means, intended to convey information. They are
distinguished:

- public, such as the Internet, where anyone can post information and training content;

- private, cinema, TV, books and newspapers, where, no matter who owns it, only
some people are able to keep content;___________________

- multimedia, when content are transferred under different sensory channels;

- interactive, when user can interact at various levels and in different ways.

First, it must refer that research on the matter have been, over the years, subject to
considerable methodological critics, highlighting the lack of validity and reliability.
Specifically, it was noted that samples were not generalizable to the population;
definition of violence was too broad or too specific; derived indexes from TV violence
were based on subjective and fuzzy criteria; then, data interpretations were distorted
by the series of problems described above and by other factors. Studies of Gerbner
and Gross, (1976), who then drew the attention of the media, subsequent critical
review has shown to be based on assumptions not verified or falsified; asserting that
information people drew by watching television, affect interpretation of reality, based
on time spent, is a non-falsifiable hypothesis, a thesis more than a hypothesis, and so
it would be foolish to demonstrate, because it could only be verified, (Popper).

Also model based on neurophysiological experiments, for example, Shachter (1964),

Berkowitz and Alioto (1973), just to name a few, has been subject to methodological
critics, invalidating them: injecting adrenaline or create artificial conditions of arousal
does not seem a proper ecological validation. Studies centerd on aggression and
violence in children, linked to the television, which showed greater validity over time,
were those of Albert Bandura and others (1961, 1973), then included in a model called
"Learning theory ", or even "social learning model. " An experiment performed in a
simple way and natural contest, that anyone could easily replay, has become a classic
of psychological research. A group of children in a kindergarten was shown a video in
which two adults, man and woman, railed against a basculating plastic puppet filled
with sand, so it can swing back to vertical orientation when he was kicked and
punched. After watching movie, the children were ushered into the room where they
played and had been previously allocated the same puppet. The control group
consisted of children who were placed in front of the doll without having seen the
movie. Children in the experimental group began to hit the snowman, while those in
the control group did not show different behaviors than with other toys. In later
versions, the film shows adults after beating the doll were rewarded with candy or
scolded: in these variants, the children shown to follow the behavior patterns; hit
harder when the model was rewarded or inhibition when scolded.
Adult models have been replaced with cartoon characters with the same results; also
hitting a puppet identified with her gender was more easy, indicated by reduced time
to overcome the inhibition; moreover, males were more aggressive, striking more
shots and more forcefully. The results, albeit with appropriate caution, related to data
generalized to population show that a television representation of aggressive and
violent behavior, based on shared criteria, was effective in modeling the behavior of
children, even in the absence of immediately subsequent movements.
Bandura's studies, were subjected to various interpretations on the actual
psychological mechanisms involved and enclosed in generic term "imitation". Bandura
hypothesized that the child is predisposed to reproduce the behavior observed under a
mindset that includes an assessment of the effects achieved: if the observed models
lead agressive behaviors, the child will imitate, as if receive a reinforcement, consisting
of the favorable assessment of the consequences that fall on the model, or will be
discouraged if the model will achieve negative or harmful consequences. Other authors
have relied on other mechanisms, and ultimately what is at work when we refer to
imitation is not now entirely clear, however, a predisposition and a paradigm based on
operant conditioning appear the two factors more involved.

The most reliable longitudinal studies in North America, are those of Huesmann
(Huesmann et al., 1986), based on an international sample, which showed a
statistically significant correlation, however small, between watching violent scenes in
childhood and aggressive behavior in second decade of life, there being three hours of
TV per day, at an average of violent scenes per hour of transmission so as to exclude
too general aspects. It was showed that children predisposed to aggression were more
inclined to indulge at violent scenes, but data showed a slight but generalized rise in
the rate of aggression in the sample. Further evidence on the habituation to television
scenes of violence, was the development of emotional indifference for displayed violent
contents, a kind of emotional hardening toward violence represented, which may be
reflected in social relationships. Even the advertising draws aggressive styles and
patterns, with frequent sexual winks and subliminal messages, in which male
aggression is prompted by females provocation diminishing the suitor who does not
own the products advertised or alluding to competitions between members of the same
sex, where the razor, car, perfume, and the concentrated live lactic or the epilator, are
the weapons by which they win the social contest. Generally, the model proposed by
aggressive advertising is particularly insidious because of its protean and pervasive
ways, creating a strong emotional involvement, in the absence of explicit awareness.

TV set, for historical reasons is the most investigated media but since the seventies,
studies have spread to computer games console, then the Internet and mobile phones.
Video games are the main source for propagation of violent, interactive games and
multimedia content and among them, some were the focus of journalistic and
sociological debate, because accused to spread and solicit particularly violent content,
and more generally, it was argued that video games make easy isolation and distorted
representation of reality. To date, despite the lak of methodologically reliable studies,
there is no convincing evidence that violent video games contribute to raising the rates
of violence of users in the medium and long term, to a greater cause than the TV and
the movies (Dominick, 1984). Anderson and Dill (2000) but corroborate the effect of
video games, but the methodology used, based on self-assessment questionnaire,
which makes reliable subjects responses related to mental states experienced in a
previous set, it is considered reliable only by a minority of researchers.
 In summary, despite the propensity to believe in a greater danger of interactive
games, because the player is more involved and engaged and identified with more
consistency in the character that manipulates, having a control, there is no evidence of
greater effectiveness in comparison with traditional media, also we need for further
investigation. If viewing television violent scenes or video game use in children, has
shown weak association with violence expressed, except for those with learning
disabilities and many risk factors, testifying domestic violence unfolds pervasive effects
on the young person, as discussed in the next chapter._________________

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Riferimenti bibliografici e letture consigliate . References and recommended reading

Introduzione

Abrham, K. (1921). Opere, Boringhieri, Torino, 1975

Bandura, A. (1969). Social Learning Theory, General Learning Press, New York.
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Dawkins, R. (1989). The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Dollard, et al. (1939) Frustration and Aggressivity, Oxford Univerity Press, Oxford.
Freud, S. In: OSF, Voll. 1-12, Boringhieri, Torino, 1967-1980.
Harlow, H. F. (1959). Love in Infant Monkeys, Scientific American, Vol. 200(6), pp. 68-74.
Kernberg, O. F. (1984) Disturbi gravi della personalità, Boringhieri, Torino, 1987.
Kohut, H. (1971). Narcisismo e analisi del Sé, Boringhieri, Torino, 197.
Lorenz, K. (1963). Trad. it. L'aggresDer Sogenannte Bose. Zur Naturgeschichte der
Aggression,sività, Il Saggiatore, Milano, 1976.
Lorenz, K. (1949). Er redete mit dem Vieh, den Vogeln und den Fischen, Trad. it. L'anello di Re
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Pinker, S. (1994). The language Instinct, Penguin, London, Trad. it. L'istinto del linguaggio,
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Wilson, D. S., & Sober, E. (1994). Reintroducing group selection to the human behavioural sciences,
Behavioural and Brain Sciences, Vol. 17, pp. 585-608.

Basi biologiche

Adolphs, D., et al. (1994). Fear and the human amygdala, Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 15, pp. 5879-
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Aggleton, J. P., et al. (1992). The Amygdala: Neurobiological Aspects of Emotions, Memory and
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Influenze ambientali precoci

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Media e aggressività

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