Is It the Body?

The Roots of Violence

● In the interview Professor Kenneth E. Moyer of Carnegie-Mellon University, Pennsylvania (USA), stated that certain conditions in our body can stimulate systems in our brain that can create a strong tendency to fight.

Do you feel that a person can become violent for no apparent reason?

There is much debate over this. However, there have been many cases like the one where a man gradually became more hostile toward his family. He attempted to stab his wife and daughter and was taken to the hospital in a mad rage. A brain tumor was discovered and when this was removed his aggression ended. Not all brain tumors cause such behavior. Yet experiments have shown that direct electrical stimulation in certain parts of the brain has caused some patients to feel angry and behave violently.

What has your research revealed to be contributors to violence?

There is some evidence that an excess of male sex hormones, low blood sugar and allergies may make some more inclined to be hostile.

Are these automatic triggers?

No, for our behavior is a result of more than our internal feelings. Even with strong feelings of hostility, a person, because of his learning experiences or environment, may not become violent.

But are you saying it is harder for some to avoid becoming violent?

I believe it is, though not necessarily impossible. For instance, a man, out of concern for his violent tendencies, came to one of my colleagues. Tests revealed a brain disturbance and efforts to locate it were made with electrodes inserted in his brain. At one point he got up to leave, saying: “I’m going to kill my wife!” Upon the pleas of the doctor, this man agreed to have his brain electrically stimulated one more time. Now the doctor stimulated a center of the brain known to be a suppressor of violence. Immediately the man became friendly, and said: “I really appreciate what you did. I certainly would have killed my wife.”

Is controlling brain function and body chemistry the answer?

For certain individuals it probably is. However, I do not think that it is the answer. Really to get control you have to care for the environmental factors that create frustration, and you have to make sure that nothing is wrong in the body.

Are antiaggression drugs helpful?

Drugs that regulate the balance of certain hormones have helped. A number of drugs can be quite useful in getting some people through a certain period in life. When these drugs are carefully administered by a doctor they do not make the patient a zombie, but treat a specific problem in the brain.

Why do you say in the long run we must depend on learning to stop aggression?

The use of brain stimulation or drugs is very limited. They are useless when someone is violent yet has no personal animosity against the victim, such as a hired killer or wartime bomber pilot.

Is It the Diet?

The Roots of Violence

● An interview with chief probation officer Barbara Reed of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (USA), reveals that for over ten years she has been treating offenders of minor crimes, including domestic violence, by adjusting their diet.

How successful is your work?

We did a five-year statistical workup with about 1,000 cases that our department handled. After checking with four courts and our own, we found that 89 percent had not been back in trouble.

What is different about your approach?

In addition to regular counseling, we probe into an offender’s diet and exercise habits and make recommendations.

What do you usually find wrong?

Most do not eat breakfast. Usually they consume from 30 to 150 teaspoons of sugar a day through doughnuts, sweet rolls, candy, ice cream and soda pop. They average three to sixteen sixteen-ounce (.50 L) bottles of soda a day. They rarely eat vegetables. At times there are allergies to milk or certain foods.

How are diet and crime connected?

Criminal acts are not caused by one factor. But a constant diet containing refined sugar, caffeine or alcohol causes a stressful reaction in the body. The adrenal glands, which respond with a surge of adrenaline, in time become nearly exhausted. But when a person is committing a crime or is fighting, the adrenaline flows. I feel that some turn to criminal or hostile activity to get this surge of energy. Also, a bad diet can make one irritable and more prone to violence.

Can a violent person blame his diet?

We are responsible for keeping our minds clear. If a person knows that certain foods will cause problems and yet he still eats them, he is just as responsible as an alcoholic who takes a drink. He knows what will happen. Of course, most persons are ignorant of the problem.

Why do some on the same diet not become criminals?

We are all different. Some can drink alcohol for years and not become alcoholic. Some are more sensitive to sugar or caffeine. There may be inherited dependency. The parents or grandparents of 50 of 150 of our cases were diagnosed as diabetic or hypoglycemic.

Will a better diet lessen home violence?

Definitely. We have never had a case of domestic violence where a terrible diet was not a primary problem. Of course, this includes alcohol abuse, but there have been many cases where they consumed enormous amounts of “junk food.” One couple who regularly fought practically lived on coffee, soda pop and ice cream. I got them on a healthful diet of fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, whole-grain breads and cereals, six glasses of water daily and encouraged them to take walks together. Matters improved in two weeks. Good diet and exercise are excellent tools for handling stress.

Is It Television?

The Roots of Violence

● Dr. Leonard Eron has observed the long-term effects of TV violence on children. This research professor of the social sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle stated in the interview that violent behavior is learned, and that TV plays a big role.

Why was your research study unique?

We studied the same youngsters over a twenty-one-year period to see what contributed toward some becoming highly aggressive. In 1960 we began with 875 eight-year-olds. Ten years later we reinterviewed 475 of them and their peers. We just finished a twenty-year follow-up with over 400.

What were your results?

We found that the greater a child’s preference for violent TV at age eight, the greater his hostility both then and ten years later. Our study has been duplicated in five countries. We have the results from Finland and Poland. They confirm our findings.

Do you feel that TV violence causes the aggression, or do violent children simply like to watch violence?

To our surprise, we found that eight-year-olds who were not aggressive but watched much violent TV were significantly more violent by age nineteen than were those youngsters who, when eight years old, were highly aggressive but saw little TV violence.

How does watching TV violence cause aggression?

It teaches a way of solving problems. It rehearses these solutions over and over. They see the main character of a program or cartoon use violent tactics successfully, and they may try the same.

Is TV violence the only cause?

No. A child’s rearing has a great effect. We found that when parents fought each other, rejected the child or used harsh punishment, the children became more aggressive. However, our study showed that a child who felt his parents cared about him when he was punished for aggression became less aggressive and the punishment worked. But caring parents are usually not harsh punishers.

Which has a greater influence​—violent TV or violent parents?

It is hard to say. But we found that in determining how violent an eight-year-old could become at age nineteen, his TV habits were a more accurate predictor than anything else, including parental disharmony and social status. In our recent three-year Chicago study we corrected the attitude of some children who watched much TV violence. They became less aggressive, though other aspects of their life were unchanged.

What do you believe parents can do about the problem?

They should control what their children watch. Also, explain to the children that what they see on TV is not reality, that you do not solve problems by beating someone up. Our small efforts to explain how unrealistic TV is had significant results.

Is It the Thinking?

The Roots of Violence

● “Crime is a product of the way a criminal thinks,” said Dr. Stanton Samenow, a clinical psychologist and consultant in Alexandria, Virginia, in the interview. He was part of a team that spent seventeen years probing the criminal mind through countless interviews and efforts to rehabilitate hardened, often violent, criminals.

Why do you feel that environment and upbringing are not critical?

Most poor people are not criminals. Many well-to-do are. Most minorities are not criminals, and many who are majorities are. Over half of the criminals we dealt with came from stable homes. Usually they had brothers or sisters or neighbors living under the same conditions who did not take a path of crime.

Are you saying that changing the environment is not enough?

Yes. Crime does not stop if you clear the slums. Crime resides in the minds of men, not in the slums. Changing the environment does not change the inner person. Even the Bible says, “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7, Authorized Version) A criminal’s pattern of thinking must be changed.

What did you find were the most consistent thinking errors?

Of course the criminal did not consider them as such. But in The Criminal Personality we listed fifty-two faulty thinking patterns. Among the most consistent were (1) The view that the world is theirs to take whatever they want, whenever they want it. (2) The ability to cut off fear. They are superoptimistic. Fear of injury, getting caught or even a nagging conscience is simply cut off for the moment. (3) No sense of teamwork. If nine criminals were on a baseball team, each would think he is the captain. (4) They think in extremes​—either they are Number One or Zero.

How do you change the thinking?

The individual has to want to change. You try to approach him when he is at a low. Perhaps he has been locked up or is about to lose his family. Instead of asking about his upbringing, making him feel as if he were a helpless victim of circumstances, we respectfully tell him how rotten his life is. We try to enhance his self-disgust.

What positive ideals do you teach?

The need of total commitment. Do not blame others. As one criminal who was making some progress said, ‘I used to think that if my parents had given me more love, I wouldn’t be a criminal, but now I wonder if being the kind of son I was made them that way.’ “I can’t” was replaced with “I must.” We taught empathy for others.

What prevents a return to crime?

We taught them to become their own critics​—to take stock continually of whether their thinking is morally right. This continual moral inventory is the most important deterrent.