A neuropsychologist contends that the greatest threat to world peace comes from those nations which are most sexually repressive. He writes:
" Human violence is fast becoming a global epidemic. Recent research supports the point of view that the deprivation of physical pleasure is a major ingredient in the expression of physical violence. The common association of sex with violence provides a clue to understanding physical violence in terms of deprivation of physical pleasure. Although physical pleasure and physical violence seem worlds apart, there seems to be a subtle and intimate connection between the two. Until the relationship between pleasure and violence is understood, violence will continue to escalate.
As a developmental neuropsychologist I have devoted a great deal of study to the peculiar relationship between violence and pleasure. I am now convinced that the deprivation of physical sensory pleasure is the principal root cause of violence. Laboratory experiments with animals show that pleasure and violence have a reciprocal relationship, that is, the presence of one inhibits the other. A raging, violent animal will abruptly calm down when electrodes stimulate the pleasure centers of its brain."
So the French weren't getting laid and that caused the Revolution? Ted Bundy was getting laid with regularity and killed possibly upwards of 300 women. Riwandans breed with the regularity of rabbits to the point of starvation, and then butchered each other. Maybe it's a little deeper than repressive sexual idealology? I'm not denying it's part and parcel, but violence towards another human being is a little deeper than sexual repression. Maybe in our times it's more towards the devaluation of life, i.e abortion on demand? The denying of a supreme being however you may want to reference him as, God, Yahweh etc. Or maybe searching for an excuse as why someone did something, the victim syndrome instead of accepting ones actions as wrong an accepting personal responsibility, oh my mother beat me, so I have pent up rage for other human beings. Maybe it's the unwillingness of society to enforce social and moral codes.
As a chemical messenger, dopamine is similar to adrenaline. Dopamine affects brain processes that control movement, emotional response, and ability to experience pleasure,and pain, is there a corelation between dopamine and adrenaline? Dopamine possibly leads to addiction, and too much adrenaline can possibly lead to aggresive behavior. I'm just throwing that out there Dr. to get your professional opinion. I guess what I'm trying to say, is there really one significant instance that leads to violence towards another human being? Maybe the greatest motivation would be revenge, but for what?
Maybe the reciprical relationship is valid, but what about the drug addict, lets use the downer and pain killer addict, they dumb down dopamine so much, that when they run out of the drug that gives them the pleasure their moods change and possibly upwards to violence against themselves and possibly another human being. I don't know what motivates individuals to do certain things, though I firmly believe that an establishment of a moral code and social norms have a great effect on most people. Interesting topic and I'm sure this will get debated quite a bit in our lifetime
Good point, nasfan6. There could be a strong link between the instinct to kill and the one to breed, but there must be more to violence than just the fact that somenoe doesn't get any.
"A raging, violent animal will abruptly calm down when electrodes stimulate the pleasure centers of its brain."
A raging violent animal will also abruptly calm down if you shoot it dead. :)
Nasfan, when you say "I like icecream", it doesn't mean that you hate everything else. Similarly, neuropsychologist merely states just one reason for violence.
I see the same coorelation true for male animals. Why do male zoo or circus animals, such as elephants, turn on their keepers or trainers?
Perhaps, the same is also true for some females. Barely a century ago, maidens played possessions to convey to their elders to marry them, something they couldn't say otherwise.
In one such cultures today, one government is taking steps to place men under the yoke of their wives, instead of the clergy; where poverty, unemployment, lack of prostitution, strict sepeartion of sexes, dowry and elaborate weddings had kept many from getting married. It actually has strictly enforced laws that there be no more than 10 guests present at a wedding (200 guests used to be the norm) and no meals are served (buffets used to be the norm).
There was an article in a famous newspaper "Extremism: The Loser's Revenge. Can sexual inadequacy or deprivation turn angry men into killers?" This is also the theme of "Seventeen", a novel by a Japanese novelist who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1994.