PSY307-Brain Damage
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Brain Damage and Aggression
Aggression is any form of behavior directed towards a goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid those behaviors (Baron, 1994). Throughout the history of psychology, environmental factors have been thought to influence behavior rather than biological factors. Theories on aggression have been developed to postulate the reasons why a living being would exhibit aggression. Evolutionary psychologist have theorized that the reason for aggression is to have access to certain scarce resources and prevent others from taking them away. Environment has been thought to contribute to the major cause of aggression.
Neurobiological reasons for aggression are caused by factors such as arousal, cognition, and biology (Psychwiki, 2007). According to Harmon-Jones (2001) research has demonstrated that the prefrontal regions of the brain are asymmetrically involved in the expression and experience of emotion. The left-prefrontal region influences positive affective or approach-related processes, and the right-prefrontal region influences negative affective or withdrawal-related processes. The prefrontal cortex as a whole influences general behavior by inhibiting maladaptive behavior and cognitive processing in adaptive behavior. If the Prefrontal cortex is damaged inhibition of maladaptive behavior may not be present and cognitive processing may be off (Peterson, 2007).
Brain damage has been shown to impair inhibition and cognitive processing in bilateral amygdaloid lesions performed at the age of 7 days markedly increased the proportion of rats displaying mouse-killing behavior when adult (Eclancher, 1982). Lesions in the frontal cortex are likely to exhibit response with impulse aggression and demonstrate irritability and short tempers (Baron & Richardson,1994). Frontal lobe dysfunctions alter neurochemistry, neurometabolism, and influences heredity (Stein, 2007). Damage to the frontal lobe can be caused by physical, chemical, and inherited factors. Impaired function of the prefrontal cortex shown in positron emission tomography (PET) shows aggressive individuals reduced prefrontal activation. People can inherently be more aggressive due to naturally being less active in the prefrontal area of the brain. People that don’t make decisions often are more likely to be more aggressive (Nelson, 2006)
Silver Comet Trail Murderer
The Silver Comet Trail Murderer, Michael Ledford, was convicted of murder, kidnapping, aggravated sodomy, aggravated battery and aggravated assault for ambushing and women, Jennifer Ewing, when she was on her regular 50-mile ride on the Silver Comet Trail on the afternoon of July 25, 2006. Ledford dragged her off the trail and forced her to perform oral sex but got bit by her in retaliation. Ledford punched and stomped Ewing and smothered her until she died (Cook, 2009). In defense of Ledford, three experts testified that he was controlled by his anger because he had brain damage from falling 50 feet when he was younger and decades of constant drinking with the abuse from his father as a child (Cook, 2009).
The defense of Michael Ledford argued that brain damage at a young age affected his capability to control his sexual urges. Biology was not the sole reason for his actions. Environmental factors were presented by his defense contributing to his actions by making his actions more difficult to control. Factors such as childhood abuse and alcohol consumption made him more fragile and less aware of his own actions. Ledford’s childhood abuse from his father affected his maturity and self control psychologically. Self medication by consumption of alcohol did not mediate his emotional instability, but instead exacerbated the problem. The alcohol also further impeded his ability to inhibit maladaptive behaviors. The defense argued that his abusive past, excessive alcohol consumption and brain injury caused an uncontrollable reaction to Ewing’s bite to kill her. What may have helped this individual was addressing the problem before any harm to society could occur. This man should have been given help from loved ones and the alcohol consumption should have been eliminated.
Columbine
Two students from an upper-middle-class community located near Littleton, Colorado, entered Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999 armed with weapons and bombs to carry out extreme acts of violence. Eric Harris , 18 years old and Dylan Klebold, 17 years old arrived at school wearing black trench coats and masks heavily armed with semi-automatic weapons, rifles and home made pipe bombs and initiated a massacre by killing two students outside of the school before killing 10 more students 1 instructor and wounding 24 other students before killing themselves (Shafii, 2001).
The aggression that resulted in Eric and Dylan’s behavior originated out of different circumstances. According to James (2009), Eric Harris was a psychopath. He was controlling, manipulative, and sadistic. In contrast Dylan Klebold was lonely, depressive, and full of suppressed emotional rage. Eric’s psychopathic personality is filled with grandiose idealization that would complement Dylan’s personality. Dylan’s suppressed emotional rage was possible vented through the actions that Eric planned to carry out. Eric and Dylan were not a part of the Trench Coat Mafia; they weren't even bullied by other students or any other group.
Their initial intent was not to shoot up the school but to attack and bomb their school in hopes to one day hope to be more infamous than Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (Chen, 2009). Investigators meticulously analyzed the boy's diaries, school assignments, and police documents and found no evidence of a list of people to kill. They did not discriminate in the killing of certain social groups for the reasons of retaliation. Their objective was to kill everyone (Toppo, 2009). Eric and Dylan showed signs of a personality disorder that was probably contributed by the lack of oversight from their parents. There are no evidence or documents that support of any brain abnormality or injuries to help explain any of their actions. The actions Eric and Dylan exhibited could have been prevented if their parents noticed changes or abnormalities in their behavior. Eric’s parents should have noticed his psychopathic behavior and accumulation of weapons. Intervention for Dylan’s depression could have prevented Eric from carrying those actions without support from someone else.
References
Baron, R. A., & Richardson, D. R. (1994). Biological Bases of Human Aggression. Human Aggression. New York: Plenum Press.
Chen, S (2009). Debunking the myths of Columbine, 10 years later. From http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/20/columbine.myths/
Cook, R (2009). Ledford convicted of murdering Silver Comet cyclist. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. From http://www.ajc.com/cherokee/content/metro/cobb/stories/2009/05/18/silver_comet_guilty.html?cxntlid=inform_sr
Cook, R (2009). Witnesses make plea to spare Silver Comet killer. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. From http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2009/05/21/silver_comet_testimony.html
Eclancher, F. (1982). Effects of housing and early brain lesions on the rat's mouse-killing behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 8(2), 220-223.
Harmon-Jones, E., & Sigelman, J. (2001, May). State anger and prefrontal brain activity: Evidence that insult-related relative left-prefrontal activation is associated with experienced anger and aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(5), 797-803.
James, S. D. (2009). Surviving Columbine: What We Got Wrong. From http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7363898&page=1
Nelson, R. J. (2006). Biology of aggression. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press. Peterson, C., Shackman, A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2008, January). The role of asymmetrical frontal cortical activity in aggression. Psychophysiology, 45(1), 86-92.
Psychwiki. (2007). Retrieved May 15, 2009, from the Psych Wiki: http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Aggression
Shafii, M., & Shafii, S. L. (2001). School violence : assessment, management, prevention. Washington, DC : American Psychiatric Press.
Stein, K (2007). The genius engine : where memory, reason, passion, violence, and creativity intersect in the human brain. Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons.
Toppo, G (2009). 10 years later, the real story behind Columbine. From http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-13-columbine-myths_N.htm
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