What goes on inside the brain of a bully?
Researchers from the University of Chicago used brain scan technology to find out. They wanted to learn whether the brain of an aggressive youth responds differently to violence than the brain of someone who is not a bully. In a chilling finding, the researchers found aggressive youths appear to enjoy inflicting pain on others.
In the study, the researchers compared eight 16- to 18-year-old boys who were unusually aggressive to a control group of adolescent boys with no unusual signs of aggression. The aggressive boys had been given a diagnosis of aggressive conduct disorder and had been in trouble for starting fights, using a weapon and stealing from their victims.
The youths were tested with functional magnetic resonance imaging to see how their brains reacted while watching video clips. The clips showed people in pain as a result of accidents — such as when a heavy bowl dropped on their hands. They also showed intentional acts, like stepping on another person’s foot.
When the aggressive youths watched people intentionally inflicting pain on another, the scan showed a response in the part of the brain associated with reward and pleasure. The youths who were not aggressive didn’t show the same brain response. The study, published in the current issue of the journal Biological Psychology, suggests that the brain’s natural impulse for empathy may be disrupted in the brain of a bully, leading to increased aggression.
“This is the first time that f.M.R.I. scans have been used to study situations that could otherwise provoke empathy,” said Jean Decety, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Chicago, in a press release. “This work will help us better understand ways to work with juveniles inclined to aggression and violence.”
While the study is small, the striking differences shown in the brain scans suggests that bullies may have major differences in how their brains process information compared to non-bullies. Dr. Decety said the aggressive adolescents showed a strong activation of the amygdala and ventral striatum, areas of the brain that respond to feeling rewarded. The finding “suggested that they enjoyed watching pain,” he said. Notably, the control group of youths who weren’t prone to aggressive behavior showed a response in the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction, areas of the brain involved in self regulation.
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From 1 to 25 of 92 Comments
These functional MRI’s are great. I think they are going to demonstrate more and more that some of the basic opinions we’ve developed about human behaviors are actually true — and now, are able to be proven in a scientific manner. Brain chemistry will hopefully become a major area of research — which will certainly explain a lot of things we’ve casually noted over the years. (Maybe give a few people just the excuse they’ve been looking for, too!)
— Jane“In a chilling finding, the researchers found aggressive youths appear to enjoy inflicting pain on others.”
While I know the necessity and value of confirming theories with experimentation, this is something that’s been obvious for a very long time to victims of bullies. Clueless and neglectful teachers and parents will tell a victim that the bully does it because s/he feels badly about himself. I have always known that that wasn’t true.
— Emily B.The next question is whether the missing empathy is a function of heredity or training. Both, of course, but is it weighted in one direction or another?
— ElizaAh. Now I know where the Onion.com got its parody from this week.
I’d love to know if there’s a difference in adult brains between those who used to bully and those who still make everyone around them miserable.
— ZoeI have an interesting perspective on this, having spent some time as a bully in my childhood. I look back on those years with regret and shame, but also recognize truth in the assertion that bullies enjoy their behavior. There’s a certain obvious quality to this observation — why else would bullies inflict pain on their victims? — but it’s chilling nonetheless.
However, it’s important to point out that these behaviors are not hard wired. The brains of most children are incredibly malleable and most bullies are surely capable of learning the qualities of empathy and respect. I certainly have and, as an adult, find physical violence repulsive.
FROM TPP — Interesting to hear you grew out of the bullying behavior. I’m not sure that is always the case. thanks for commenting.
— JakeThis research brings to mind an interview I heard with psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Brown, who has founded the Institute for Play.
Dr. Brown has studied children and animals at play, and believes it’s in active, aggressive, rough and tumble play that one learns empathy and limits.
He found that the murderers and violent criminals all lacked a “play experience” growing up”.
Quote from Brown: “If, if you are in a rough-and-tumble situation, somebody hits you too hard, you know what that feels like. So you’re not going to hit, in general, hit somebody else too hard, because you know what it feels like. And that’s the roots, for example, of an emphatic response. And the thing that —none of the murderers I studied engaged in normal rough-and-tumble play. Absolutely none.”
Clearly, I can think of lots of other reasons like a violent family background, lack of prenatal care, drugs, or brain damage that could have caused the changes in the brains of the aggressive teenagers. But, early experiences also can change the brain. Dr. Brown may just be on to something. It’s possible that his “play is necessary” theory is
viable.
He’s a fascinating guy, and a tremendous advocate for the value of play. You can learn more about him at the Public Radio website, Speaking of Faith.
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/play/
http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com
— The Healthy LibrarianHow sad for the bully.
— Bruceand water is wet and fire is hot. Is this really a surprising finding?
— KMSStudies such as this one allow journalists to imagine a fully-grown oak tree while looking at an acorn. There is a danger in doing this. The acorn may look diseased, but the tree it produces may be healthy.
Here, we have a study involving 8 conduct disorder (CD) teens and 8 control-study teens, using complex brain-imaging techniques which are not fully understood by any stretch of the imagination. That the CD teens showed what may be a sign of pleasure while watching pain inflicted on others is not surprising to me. Anyone who has watched a bully pick a fight with another person can see that the activity is rewarding to the bully. That is until they get the snot beat out of them.
As next step, perhaps we should give those signing up to join the armed forces the same sort of scans while watching combat videos. But my question is: should we be eager to sign up those who clearly relish combat, or not? Would the ones who seem to enjoy combat be “good” soldiers, or not?
Hmmmm. How come life is full of issues and problems which are difficult to resolve?
— Rob L, N Myrtle Beach SCThat’s truly disturbing.
I have gotten angry in my life. I also have many flaws.
However, enjoying someone’s pain????
I don’t even understand that…really.
How does that happen??
I can’t even watch the Office without wincing in pain for some of the characters. I have actually turned it off due to this.
— rini10Well . . .are we really *surprised* by this?? OF COURSE bullies enjoy others’ pain. Haven’t we all always known this?
The scientific technique in this study verifies the obvious; and I suppose it’s interesting that the enjoyment actually shows up in brain activity. But — “a chilling finding”? That seems to imply that this finding is something new, that we didn’t know before. I agree with other posters who say that anyone who’s ever dealt with a bully knows perfectly well that bullies *enjoy* inflicting pain.
— kThese studies are restricted to young men, the most obvious bullies. But there are others. My mother-in-law is one. She sets her children against each other because she enjoys watching the ensuing painful fallout. This is not at all about physical bullying, it is all mental but it is bullying none the less and deliberately instigated by her. It is probably a more common behavior than we think, because it is so easy for these women to hide behind the cloak of motherhood.
A current example would be the governor of my state of alaska. You can’t tell me she didn’t enjoy every minute of her very scary rallies, in fact she is on video saying to daughter Piper in front of Matt Lauer that “it (campaigning at the rallies) was fun, wasn’t it?”
Reminded me of the glee in my mother-in-law’s voice when I sought her help over her son’s hurtful behavior towards me and she said, “I know he is mean to you.”
Meaning that she was watching with pleasure. Creepy.
This behavior pattern should be more thoroughly understood BEFORE more women like this become powerful political figures. Mothers can be the worst bullies.
— irinaI’ve never enjoyed the 3 stooges, but there’s a subset of the population that can’t get enough.
This is the way we’re wired, but that doesn’t determine our behavior.
— Fredda WeinbergI see posters here making the assumption that because it appears in a brain scan, it must be showing something genetic or inate in some way. Brains change in response to learning. There’s no reason not to hypothesize that some bullies learn to like inflicting pain.
I say this because when a person is in emotional pain (say a kid who’s abused or humiliated at home), it feels better to see that pain OUTSIDE of yourself, reflected in someone else’s eyes. Then you can believe for a moment that the pain is not yours.
— anneWhat does it say if you intensely enjoy witnessing the pain of someone who enjoys inflicting it? Have they done any f MRI’s on that one?
— King WardI’m sorry, but it would make the most sense to me that the area of the brain associated with reward and pleasure would be activated in bullies, and not activated in non-bullies. A bully bullies in order to receive a reward and/or pleasure. Research about the mirror neuron system show that the same areas light up in the brain when we do something, and when we watch an action that we regularly do being done. To me, this shows that the mirror neuron system in the bullies is active and functional, which could be helpful in building empathy, not detrimental.
— KateThe New Yorker had an article about MRI testing of violent criminals. Bullies are, basically, psychopaths. They should be identified, and isolated or euthanized. Get them out of the gene pool.
— edwcorey…to the healthy librarian, (comment #6), early socialization in cats and dogs is the time when they learn to curb biting, aggression, and develop the habits of healthy social interactions with their own kind, and humans as well. and later training is needed, but can ameleoriate early defecits. Perhaps there is hope, and Dr. Brown’s work may offer a way to retrain older brains. thanks you for your observation.
— BettyMy brain made me do it will be the new legal defense.
— R.Perhaps the environment of my youth was simply too Cleaveresque, but the only “bullies” I recall were those of the verbal variety, and they did it for the laughs.
— MistyHow can someone “enjoy” the pain of others? Do you not feel a sense of relief when you hear that everyone else’s portfolio is as damaged as yours in the current melt-down? Does it not make you feel less inadequate? Misery loves company. IMO, bullies are profoundly unhappy with themselves due to feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness and seek to share that unhappiness with others; and by inflicting pain on others they feel more powerful. Win-win for the bully.
— DSReaders may be interested in an article in The New Yorker about fMRI studies being done on prisoners labeled as psychopaths. The article is in the November 10 issue:
— ElisaSuffering Souls
A REPORTER AT LARGE about a search for the roots of psychopathy…
by John Seabrook
Comment #3, Yes, I agree the next step is figuring out if this is nature or nurture. Does the dad who champions his son “pounding” the opposing sports team risk raising a violent, bullying son? Can he do otherwise if this is how he was raised? Do the rewards of “winning” a violent first-person-shooter video game mean that young kids are learning that violence is entertaining? Or do the ones who choose those games already have this connection in their brains that causing pain = fun? Serious questions for current and future parents raising kids in our violent, competitive world.
— KBThe “treatment” for this disorder is effective and well established. Stand up and a bully will back down. All bullies are cowards.
— georgeWhat is th fuzz about this Sarah Palin being used in your comments. The election is over and character assassination still goes on.
Poor Sarah Palin.
— Barak