The biology of violence

by Debra Niehoff

There has been a revolution in neuroscience over the last ten years, and, as Debra Niehoff shows in the first book to examine violence from a complete biological perspective, now is the right time to consider how we are going to use the achievements of that revolution to reduce the level of violence in our society. Niehoff brings together a wide range of research to show that we understand behavior in a totally unprecedented way, and that our ability to control violence effectively has never been greater. The awful consequences of violence for victims and perpetrators are not an outcome we have to accept. The vicious circle that connects bad genes, bad environment, and bad brain chemistry in a kind of feedback loop can be broken. As Niehoff shows, creating a caring, safe social environment is almost always the first step in halting the train of aggression.