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A new study on the brain has found exactly where inside it bullying begins. According to newswise.com, individual differences in the motivation to engage in or to avoid aggressive social interaction (bullying) are mediated by the basal forebrain, the lateral habenula circuit in the brain, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published June 30 in the journal Nature . Now, you don't need to know the exact scientific facts about this.  All you need to know is that maladaptive aggressive behavior is associated with a number of psychiatric disorders and is thought to partly result from inappropriate activation of brain reward systems in response to aggressive or violent social stimuli. Researchers have now learned that the basal forebrain, or its projections to other brain regions, directly controls the rewarding aspects of aggression. Yes, that means that bullying is seen as a rewarding activity to some people. "Our st...

This is a little spooky.  A new study has found that love can sometimes make us mean . Say what? The study found that, under certain circumstances, feelings of warmth, tenderness and sympathy can in fact predict aggressive behaviors, according to a recent study by two University at Buffalo researchers.  Love and compassion go hand-in-hand, or do they?  The study attempted to find out. It turns out it’s not about anger or feeling personally threatened, says study author Michael J. Poulin.  Apparently, it's all about hormones that lead to increased "approach behaviors," says Poulin, a professor of psychology, according to newswise.com.  “People are motivated by social approach or getting closer to others.” But Poulin adds that people approach one another for many reasons, including aggression, so it stands to reason that if compassion is linked to the action of these hormones and these hormones are linked to social approach behaviors, they might ...

It would seem pretty obvious, but a new study has found, once a cheater, always a cheater. According to newswise.com, this study showed that people who had sex outside their relationships once were 3.7 times more likely to report sexual infidelity again in their next relationships. Victims of infidelity in the past were also more likely to report being cheated on again. Now, that's depressing! The study examined 484 unmarried 18-to-34-year-olds who were in at least two relationships during the time of the study. Researchers also found patterns within physically or psychologically aggressive relationships. “Respondents who reported being aggressive in relationships were three times more likely to be aggressive in their next relationship – regardless of how aggressive their partner is,” says University of Denver psychology graduate student Kayla Knopp, who led the study. “We were surprised to see that it wasn’t something you could blame on the couple’s relationship...

I've wondered this for a very long time.  Can your genes make you kill? Scientists are actually mapping Adam Lanza's genes to find out, according to smartplanet.com.  Remember him?  He's hard to forget.  He's the mass murderer of 20 Connecticut first-graders and six of their teachers and administrators two years ago.   The Web site notes that no one has ever sequenced a mass murderer’s genes. "And the plan to do so, by University of Connecticut geneticists, is being conducted quietly and far from the media spotlight. The University won't comment on its research, other than to admit that they indeed undertook it. It's not clear whether they have concluded their research, but the scientists most likely looked for mutations linked to mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, autism or Asperger’s—a diagnosis psychiatrists had given Lanza years before his rampage. Neither the researchers nor the medical examiner’s office have said what they plan to do with t...

A startling new study has found that feelings of failure, not violence, fuel aggression in video games. According to newswise.com, research s hows "hostile behavior is linked to gamers’ experiences of failure and frustration during play—not to a game’s violent content." I've watched my son play Black Ops II and he throws the controller across the room only when he hasn't been able to "kill" enough other players, so it's true (and yes, I know I'm a bad mom that he even has this game), t his kid who's afraid of spiders. The study is the first to look at the player’s psychological experience with video games instead of focusing solely on its content. Researchers found that failure to master a game and its controls led to frustration and aggression, regardless of whether the game was violent or not, the Web site reports. “Any player who has thrown down a remote control after losing an electronic game can relate to the intense feelings or ang...

It's long been known that over-consumption of sugary soft drinks can harm adults, leading to stroke, obesity, kidney damage, and high blood pressure. But a study, published Friday in the  Journal of Pediatrics , which focused on 5-year-old soda drinkers and behavioral problems, found that "those who drank four or more pops daily were more than twice as likely to attack others, fight with them or destroy their property," according to Beth Greenfield at yahoo.com. The study found a clear association between aggression—as well as withdrawal and attention problems—and soda consumption, even after adjusting for socio-demographic factors, maternal depression, intimate-partner violence, and paternal incarceration, Greenfield reports. Is it the caffeine?  The sugar?  Researchers aren't yet sure. And sports drinks are no better. “Other than the obvious reasons that children should stay away from soda—that it rots their teeth, that it has no nutritional value—the Ameri...

And now for another word about violence.  Know the toddler who keeps biting yours?  Or the one who kicks the teacher when he can't get what he wants? Well, guess what?  A new study has found that "aggression in school-age children may have its origins in children 3 years old and younger who witnessed violence between their mothers and partners," according to a study by Case Western Reserve University, as reported yesterday by newswise.com. “People may think children that young are passive and unaware, but they pay attention to what’s happening around them,” newswise.com quotes Megan Holmes, assistant professor of social work at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland. The numbing fact is that between three million and 10 million children each year witness violence in their homes. While it's long been known that recent exposure to violence has a huge impact, what hasn't been so visible i...