LE SURREALISTES WERE RIGHT
Study links obsessive passion and social alienation to support for political violence
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CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA
Violent extremism could be defined as support for violence to achieve political, ideological or social objectives. Under the umbrella of this type of mindset, violent acts are seen as a legitimate means of imposing a way of life in which there is no room for diversity. But what really underlies this type of behavior, and what drives a given person to exhibit these behaviors in which political violence is a desirable option?
A research team at the University of Cordoba (UCO) and the Marbella International University Center asked itself this same question and, in a study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, analyzes some of the factors involved in this radicalization process. According to the main conclusions of the work, there are two elements that may foster extremism and that, therefore, can be considered risk factors: social alienation, and what in the scientific literature is known as "obsessive passion." The more intense these two feelings are, "the greater the support for political violence," the study states.
While social alienation can be understood as a feeling of detachment and disconnection from society, obsessive passion implies a tendency towards a certain activity in which, in a certain way, self-control is lost. "There is harmonious passion, which is positive and spurs us to perform rewarding actions, but also another linked to negative indicators of mental health and psychosocial adjustment," explained researcher Manuel Moyano, one of the researchers in the Department of Psychology at the UCO who participated in the study. It is precisely this latter feeling which, according to the results of the study, makes individuals more likely to respond violently to what they consider attacks on their identity.
To reach this conclusion, the team surveyed more than 1,500 people varying in age, background, education and employment status in two complementary studies. The first one evaluated the concept of religion as a cause of obsessive passion, while a second study, carried out with a different sample, analyzed another of the causes that can turn certain people into "obsessively passionate" beings: family. However, as the study points out, there are many causes that can give free rein to this uncontrolled passion and that should be taken into account in future studies.
Both studies confirmed the same hypothesis: the feeling of social alienation - that is, of disengagement with society - can trigger extreme behavior and support for political violence, especially in "people who develop an obsessive passion for a particular cause or ideology," the study concludes.
Understanding how these factors are related, explains Professor Moyano, can be key to better understanding the mechanisms that lead to violent extremism and, above all, to developing new strategies focused on preventing political violence, a high-priority objective in times like today, in which new armed conflicts are reshaping international relations and in which various studies have warned of the increase in social polarization. In this context, understanding the social and psychological causes of the process of violent radicalization is crucial to being able to take proactive prevention and coping actions.
JOURNAL
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
METHOD OF RESEARCH
News article
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Disconnected Out of Passion: Relationship Between Social Alienation and Obsessive Passion
Making sense of socially enhanced aggression in the brain
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba identify the brain pathway that is responsible for the "priming" of aggression that occurs when male animals spend time together
Peer-Reviewed PublicationResearchers from the University of Tsukuba identify the brain pathway that is responsible for the "priming" of aggression that occurs when male animals spend time together
Tsukuba, Japan—When male animals spend time around other males of the same species, subsequent aggressive behavior tends to be amplified—this type of priming is known as social instigation. However, the pathway in the brain that leads to this increased aggression was, until recently, relatively unknown. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Tsukuba have revealed that the lateral habenula, a small and relatively primitive region located deep within the brain, is important for this behavior in mice.
Aggressive behavior, especially between males, is important in many animal species and can be promoted in a number of different ways, including by social instigation. Although this behavioral effect is well characterized, the brain pathway that is responsible for it is less understood. The dorsal raphe nucleus is a brain region that controls aggressive behaviors, and it receives glutamate (a molecule that acts as a signal between brain cells) when social instigation occurs. However, the source of this glutamate was a mystery. Researchers from the University of Tsukuba decided to address this gap in the knowledge.
"Many different brain regions release glutamate into the dorsal raphe nucleus," explains lead author of the study Professor Aki Takahashi. "Because our initial experiments suggested that glutamate release from the lateral habenula might be responsible for aggression induced by social instigation, we conducted more experiments to see if this was the case."
The research team used two different techniques to block communication between the lateral habenula and dorsal raphe nucleus in mice, and found that this also blocked the increased aggression caused by social instigation—but it didn't affect normal levels of aggression, suggesting that this pathway is not important for aggressive behavior in general.
"We then wanted to look at the pathway beyond the dorsal nucleus," says Professor Takahashi. "We found that social instigation caused signals to travel through the brain from the lateral habenula to the dorsal raphe nucleus and then on to the ventral tegmental area—a highly connected region in the midbrain—leading to heightened aggression."
Although there are many differences in aggression between humans and mice, the results of this new study may have applications when investigating socially provoked anger or violence. There is currently a lack of effective preventative measures against socially provoked aggression, and any information that increases our understanding of these aggressive behaviors will be useful.
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This research was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP17H04766, JP19H05202, JP21H00183, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Adaptable and Seamless Technology transfer Program through Target-driven R&D (A-STEP) Grant Number JPMJTM20BW and JST FOREST Program Grant Number JPMJFR214A to AT, and by National Institute of Mental Health grants R01MH114882-01, R01MH104559, and R01MH127820 to SJR.
Original Paper
The article, "Lateral habenula glutamatergic neurons projecting to the dorsal raphe nucleus promote aggressive arousal in mice," was published in Nature Communications at DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31728-z
Correspondence
Associate Professor TAKAHASHI Aki
Faculty of Human Sciences
Related Link
JOURNAL
Nature Communications
ARTICLE TITLE
Lateral habenula glutamatergic neurons projecting to the dorsal raphe nucleus promote aggressive arousal in mice
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
21-Jul-2022
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