Social rank determines whether the same brain-stimulated region produces aggression or submission
Evidence
More impressive is evidence that electrical stimulation of the same specialized brain region can evoke markedly different behavior in the same animal when its social rank is modified merely by changing the membership of the colony. Hypothalamic stimulation of a female at the bottom of the power structure elicited cowering and submissiveness rather than aggression. However, when she was elevated in rank, simply by replacing the more dominant members with subordinate ones, she beat them up during hypothalamic stimulation. Thus, stimulating the same brain site activated aggression or submissiveness, depending on the animal’s level of social power. Power relations similarly determine drug effects on aggression (Martin, Smith, & Byrd, 1990). Amphetamine in a dominant monkey in the social hierarchy increased aggression at higher doses, whereas amphetamines given to a subordinate monkey reduced aggressive behavior. The findings of these studies underscore the importance of situating research on biochemical and neuronal regulation of aggression in the context of power relations and other social determinants of aggression. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 161
More impressive is evidence that electrical stimulation of the same specialized brain region can evoke markedly different behavior in the same animal when its social rank is modified merely by changing the membership of the colony. Hypothalamic stimulation of a female at the bottom of the power structure elicited cowering and submissiveness rather than aggression. However, when she was elevated in rank, simply by replacing the more dominant members with subordinate ones, she beat them up during hypothalamic stimulation. Thus, stimulating the same brain site activated aggression or submissiveness, depending on the animal’s level of social power. Power relations similarly determine drug effects on aggression (Martin, Smith, & Byrd, 1990). Amphetamine in a dominant monkey in the social hierarchy increased aggression at higher doses, whereas amphetamines given to a subordinate monkey reduced aggressive behavior. The findings of these studies underscore the importance of situating research on biochemical and neuronal regulation of aggression in the context of power relations and other social determinants of aggression. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 161
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader interest in how environmental/social context overrides biological ‘instinct’ explanations — parallels with Milgrom’s institutions-over-reputation work in that context shapes behavior.
- DEEPTHINKING: This undermines the biologically-determined aggression view with experimental evidence that the identical neural substrate produces opposite behavior purely from social power arrangement.
- QUESTION: If firing the same brain site produces cowering versus violence purely by rank, what does this imply for how much of human moral behavior is situationally rather than dispositionally determined? Wants to chase how robust this power/aggression finding is across species including humans.
- SHARE: A primatologist or behavioral-neuroscientist contact would enjoy the elegant Delgado design — radio-stimulating a boss monkey’s hypothalamus depending purely on colony membership changes.
- corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 161