Hormones and aggression in childhood and adolescence

This review is a survey on recent psychobiosocial studies on association between hormones and aggression/violence in children and adolescents, with a special focus on puberty, given the rapid changes in both hormones and behavior occurring during that developmental period. Since it cannot be assumed that all readers have much background knowledge, it inevitably begins with some comments about the concept and multifaceted nature of aggression, as well as with a brief reminding about hormone candidates to be linked to aggression during human development. Then, we finish off with the status of its knowledge in today’s science, tackling in a systematic way with the main data published, hormone by hormone. The origin of the gender-based differences in aggression must lie in neuroendocrinological events occurring during prenatal life or early in postnatal life. A complex and indirect effect of testosterone on aggression is proposed. A low HPA axis activity seems associated with chronic aggressive and antisocial behaviors. It is also suggested that early adrenal androgens contribute to the onset and maintenance of persistent violent and antisocial behavior, and that it begins early in life and persists into adulthood, at least in young boys. There are also some studies suggesting an association between aggression and some pituitary hormones in children, even if present data are still far from being consistent. The hormone-aggression link during development thus is not consistently reported. There can be an indirect relation in three ways: hormones can be involved in the development of aggression as a cause, as a consequence, or even as a mediator. Psychosocial factors may influence the causation and progression of violence in children through hormonal action

Terrorism and Aggression: Towards Increased Freedom and Security

Depto. de Psicobiología y Metodología en Ciencias del ComportamientoFac. de PsicologíaFALSEpu

The usefulness of distinguishing types of aggression by function

Far from being a universally defined notion, aggression is a changing and multifaceted phenomenon encompassing various concepts. There is no consensus as to how different types of aggression should be classified: multiple ways of doing so using a variety of criteria exist in the scientific literature. Some scientists categorise aggressive acts according to how they are expressed, while others prefer to look at motive, function, purpose and objective. Despite the claim of some authors that distinguishing between different types of aggressive acts is not always productive, categorising these according to different purposes and objectives can be very useful, both for developing theory and because such an approach serves forensic practice as well as preventive and therapeutic interventions, as these focus on the propensities and personality of the individual. Furthermore, given that the main functional classifications analysed show a common tendency to dichotomise, it would seem appropriate for their terminology and some of their measurement instruments to be standardised

The Usefulness of Categorizing Aggression according its Function

Depto. de Psicobiología y Metodología en Ciencias del ComportamientoFac. de PsicologíaTRUEpu

Peace and Development in Africa

Africa faces three simultaneous problems that must be addressed; economic development, disease, and peace. Drawing on the work of Jeffrey Sachs and others, this article explains the nature of each of these problems and possible solutions. A comprehensive program of action is advocated with sustained commitment to support those nations that are truly using that support to free themselves from the vicious cycles of war, disease, and poverty that currently plague much of Africa

Biology Does Not Condemn Humanity to Violence

A brief history of the preparation of the Seville Statement on Violence (SSV) and a short exposition of its propositions are provided. The SSV was originated by ISRA (International Society for Research on Aggression), a UN-Committee launched in the late seventies of the past century. Which were the main reasons urging us to elaborate the Statement, which difficulties were found on the way and how was that first ‘scientific’ step towards peace finally achieved? Its final product, elaborated by more than twenty scholars from different scientific disciplines and from all continents, was presented in Seville in 1986, at the VI Coloquio Internacional sobre Cerebro y Agresión (CICA). Three years later, it was endorsed by the 25th General Conference of UNESCO, in Paris. Its main message is that violence and war are not genetically unavoidable, and that human nature does not oblige us to behave violently.U članku je opisana povijest pripreme Seville Statement on Violence - SSV (Seviljske izjave o nasilju, op. ur.) i ukratko su izložene najvažnije tvrdnje. Seville Statement on Violence je nastala zahvaljujući International Society for Research on Aggression ISRA (Međunarodnom društvu za istraživanje agresije, op. ur.), UN-ovog odbora koji je pokrenut krajem sedamdesetih godina prošlog stoljeća. Koji su glavni razlozi koji su nas potakli da obrazlažemo Izjavu, koje poteškoće su se pojavile i kako je postignut prvi ‘znanstveni’ korak prema miru? Konačni zaključak koji je razmotrilo više od dvadeset znanstvenika iz različitih znanstvenih disciplina i sa svih kontinenata, predstavljen je na VI. Coloquio Internacional sobre Cerebro y Agresión - CICA (Međunarodni simpozij o mozgu i agresiji) u Sevilli 1986. godine. Tri godine kasnije zaključak je potvrđen na 25. Općoj konferenciji UNESCO-a u Parizu. Njegova glavna poruka je da nasilje i rat nisu genetski neizbježni i da nas ljudska priroda ne prisiljava na nasilno ponašanje

Attitudes toward conflict and aggression

Depto. de Psicobiología y Metodología en Ciencias del ComportamientoFac. de PsicologíaTRUEpu

Aggression, and some related psychological constructs (Anger, Hostility, and Impulsivity): comments from a research project

The purpose of the present study was: first, to offer a few theoretical considerations on the concept of human aggression and its main types; and second, to analyse the relationship between those types of aggression and other related psychological constructs, such as anger, hostility, and impulsivity, summarizing the main empirical results of our research in progress. In order to assess their eventual correlations, several self-report techniques were compared: a) AQ, used to measure several kinds of aggression, anger, and hostility; b) CAMA, a questionnaire already used in a variety of cultures, for measuring attitudes toward interpersonal aggression in different instrumental and hostile situations; c) ASQ, an instrument for measuring experienced anger and its expression in assertive or aggressive ways; and d) BIS, used to prove three impulsiveness sub-traits: motor, attentional, and non-planning impulsiveness. The different definitions of aggression may be grouped according to whether the primary goal is distress or harm, focusing primarily on the objective infliction of harm, or on the subjective intention of harming. Most classifications in the literature show two kinds of aggression, even if different names are used: Hostile Aggression (among other names it is also known as 'reactive, impulsive, or affective') is an act primarily oriented to hurt another individual; and Instrumental Aggression (also known as 'proactive, premeditated, or predative') is a means or tool for solving problems or for obtaining a variety of objectives. As predicted, there was a positive correlation between experience and expression of anger. Anger involved physiological arousal and prepared for aggression. Anger and impulsiveness were also positively correlated with hostile aggression, but not with instrumental aggression. In the case of impulsiveness, non-planning impulsiveness was positively correlated with some situations related to hostile aggression, such as emotional agitation or lack of communication, but not with instrumental one

Towards a better Understanding of Aggression and Other Related Concepts

This special issue entitled "Towards a better understanding of aggression and other related concepts" is a product of the XXXVII CICA International Conference co-organized by two Polish universities: Kazimierz Wielki University of Bydgoszcz and the University of Zielona G?ra. It took place from the 22 to the 25 June, 2014 and was attended by about 100 participants from 16 countries [1]. The aim of the Conference was to study the phenomena of aggression and conflict resolution using a comprehensive, integrated and interdisciplinary approach which takes into account both biological and psycho-socio-cultural factors. Several communications dealing with emotions, including anger and fear, and others with behaviors such as aggression, violence and terrorism, have been selected for this issue. The discussion on aggression and other related concepts is carried out from various scientific perspectives, which include traditional experimental psychology with a special focus on the role of family relationships and cultural factors, social and political psychology with a special focus on the role of State policies, and other theoretical perspectives which try to integrate their psychological framework with contributions from western and eastern philosophy, the neurosciences, biology, quantum physics, and complexity theory