Unchecked aggression and violence take a significant toll on society. With recent advances in pharmacology and genetic manipulation techniques, new interest has developed in the biological mechanisms of aggression. The primary goal of this title is to summarise and synthesis recent advances in the subject.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on The Biology of Aggression, Château de Bonas, Toulouse, France, July 21-30, 1980

It is now widely recognised that biological psychiatry is rapidly coming into its own. For over the last three decades dramatic advances in this young discipline have been made, all of which attest to the staying power of the experimental method. Those who made this revolution in knowledge happen are a breed of investigators availing themselves of the tools of molecular biology, pharmacology, genetics, and perhaps, above all, the technology of neuroimaging. The introduction of the interdisciplinary method of approach to the study of psychopathology had made it very clear that neuroimaging, as a set of techniques, is unique in that it is gradually providing us with evidence supporting Kraepelin's original view that mental illness is closely associated with abnormal changes in the brain.Broadly speaking, there are presently two structural techniques in neuroimaging - computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - and three functional techniques - single photon emission tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Through PET technology, for example, we have learned that, in early brain development, the primitive areas, mostly the brain stem and thalamus, are the first to show high activity in an infant. This is followed by the development of cortical areas by year one. Between the ages of four to 10, the cortex is almost twice as active in the child as in the adult. This information alerts us to what might happen in the way of trauma in abused children, especially those under the age of three. Child abuse increases the risk of physical changes, not only in the stress systems, but also in brain development (Glaser and Weissman). In addition to the difficult problem of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we have to take into account the possibility of other types of mental illness as the consequences of child abuse. These include depression, eating disorders, and drug and alcohol problems.The combination of PET and fMRI represents a more remarkable example of the power of neuroimaging since the two have made it feasible to map accurately in vitro identifiable cortical fields, or networks. In a landmark NIH investigation of human cortical reorganization (plasticity), persuasive evidence was brought forward showing that the process of learning as a motor task involves a specific network of neurons. These neurons occur in the cortical field that is responsible for that particular task. Such findings are important partly because they provide evidence supporting the current notion that labor in the cortex is divided among ensembles of specialized neurons that cooperate in the performance of complex tasks. Cooperation, then, in this, sense implies crosstalk among ensembles and that signals are both processed and retransmitted to neighbouring ensembles. To understand the workings of these ensembles, much better spatial and temporal resolution in functional brain mapping is required. This can be achieved with an NMR instrument whose magnet is 4.1 Tesla or more.

The Wiley Handbook of the Psychology of Mass Shootings gathers together the latest insights from research and practice in one timely and much-needed reference work. The first full-length academic examination of mass shootings from a psychological perspective Contains 21 essays written by a global team of experts Covers a broad range of topics, including the psychology of perpetrators, the role of the media, psychological considerations and clinical interventions for affected individuals, prevention, ethical issues, and areas for future research Provides best practices for clinicians, academics, and policymakers dealing with these increasingly prevalent incidents of violence

This revised edition includes new chapters on the development of aggression, biological bases of aggressive behavior, and aggression in natural settings; and extensive updates of the theory and research covered in the first edition.

Conceived at a time when biological research on aggression and violence was drawn into controversy because of sociopolitical questions about its study, this volume provides an up-to-date account of recent biological studies performed -- mostly on humans. A group of scientists recognized the importance of freedom of inquiry and deemed it vital to address the most promising biological research in the field. The focus on biological mechanisms is not meant to imply that biological variables are paramount as a determinant of violence. Rather, biological variables operate in conjunction with other variables contributing to aggression or violence, and a complete understanding of this phenomenon requires consideration of all influences bearing on it. This book will familiarize readers with the rapidly growing and increasingly significant body of knowledge on the biological bases of human antisocial, aggressive, and violent behaviors. The editors concentrated on biological influences that support the basic physiological and biochemical processes of the brain and did not cover those biological influences that impact on the health of the individual such as head injury, pregnancy and birth complications, diet, and exposure to lead and other toxins. They focused on biological influences to illuminate their role in the complex behavioral phenomenon of violence. Three different approaches to the biological study of human antisocial, aggressive, and violent behaviors are represented -- genetic, neurobiological, and biosocial. Representing each of these three approaches, individual chapters from investigators in psychobiology, biological psychiatry, and basic-clinical neurosciences address the most recent experimental findings, methods, theory, and common misconceptions in the biological study of aggression and violence. The areas of primary focus are behavior and molecular genetics, neurochemistry and hormones, neuroimaging, psychophysiology and developmental psychobiology. Generally speaking, investigators following these different approaches have experience in different scientific backgrounds, select different methods, generate different analyses, employ different conceptual definitions for some of the same terms, and assume a different philosophical stance in attempting to explain violence. Nevertheless, all are united in their efforts to understand the biological underpinnings of violence. This book then assumes a comprehensive approach wherein different levels of analysis and different approaches inform each other. It is clear from the studies reported that aggression and violence are multidetermined phenomena and understanding them requires an interdisciplinary approach spanning economic, sociopolitical, psychological, sociological, and criminological as well as biomedical considerations. Nature (biology) and nurture (experience, context) are fundamentally inseparable in explaining aggression and violence; biology may affect experience or context, but experience or context also influences biology. Both need to be studied in a search for explanations of this phenomena.

This handbook provides research guidelines to study roles of the genes and other factors involved in a variety of complex behaviors. Utilizing methodologies and theories commonly used in behavior genetics, each chapter features an overview of the selected topic, current issues, as well as current and future research.

The Handbook of Communication Science and Biology charts the state of the art in the field, describing relevant areas of communication studies where a biological approach has been successfully applied. The book synthesizes theoretical and empirical development in this area thus far and proposes a roadmap for future research. As the biological approach to understanding communication has grown, one challenge has been the separate evolution of research focused on media use and effects and research focused on interpersonal and organizational communication, often with little intellectual conversation between the two areas. The Handbook of Communication Science and Biology is the only book to bridge the gap between media studies and human communication, spurring new work in both areas of focus. With contributions from the field’s foremost scholars around the globe, this unique book serves as a seminal resource for the training of the current and next generation of communication scientists, and will be of particular interest to media and psychology scholars as well.

Violence comprises a historical and contemporary discussion of the origins, patterns, and causes of violence in society. Through the use of contemporary and historical sources this book explore a variety of individual and collective types of violent crimes. It incorporates a broad interdisciplinary approach to analyzing the patterns and correlates of violence using the most up-to-date research and theories and presents them in a style intended to be accessible to a wide audience of readers.

This book bridges the gap between basic science, which deals with general concepts of aggression and its neurobiological foundations, and law enforcement as one of the applied fields of aggression research. It addresses the current state of research and practice and compares and integrates the concept of aggression with violent crime. Chapters examine the types of criminal careers that cross the boundary between the two and summarize the biological, psychological, and social factors that underlie particular types of criminal careers. Subsequent chapters discuss overlaps between biological and psychological factors and detail how and to what extent aggression may serve as explanatory mechanisms for violence. The book also discusses the relationship between social problems and neuropsychological deficits, addressing how the neuropsychological deficits lead to the intergenerational recycling of social problems. Finally, the volume explores violence and aggression from a neurobiological perspective. Topics featured in this book include: The heritability of aggressiveness and violence-proneness. Glucocorticoids in humans. Aggression circuitry in animals. Distorted circuitry in violent animals. Biological factors of psychological change. Neurobiopsychosocial Perspectives on Aggression and Violence is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians and other professionals, and graduate students in forensic psychology, criminology/criminal justice, public health, developmental psychology, psychotherapy/counseling, psychiatry, social work, educational policy and politics, health psychology, nursing, and behavioral therapy/rehabilitation.