Brain Scan Shows Bullies Enjoy Others' Pain

When youths with aggressive conduct disorder watch an individual intentionally hurting another (like closing a piano lead), regions of the brain that process painful information are activated, as well as the amygdala and ventral striatum (part of the neural circuit involved in reward processing. (Jean Decety, University of Chicago/Handout/Reuters)

Download brain_scans_show_bullies_enjoy_others_pain.pdf

Comments

[Isle Dance]

Wow. You know, I still default to thinking they can't possibly enjoy such behavior. It's so hard for me to comprehend. I've never understood it. It appears that this explains it after all. (She says, while still wanting to believe it's not true. :o)

[Hjordes Norman]

Just yesterday a friend of mine asked me if I understood WHY the bullies at my daughter's school behaved the way they did. I thought of the hundreds of books I've read on the subject and the hours of intellectual "answers" to her question. But none of them were satisfying so I answered with my gut - no, I don't know why bullies bully.

Her reply?

Because it feels good.
She's never read a book on this subject. She didn't need to. It feels good. That's just...scary.