The Biology of the Violent Mind

Violent atrocities perpetrated by humans have puzzled us for centuries. The debate of nature (genetic contributors) versus nurture (environmental contributors) has generated controversy within even the most neutral of professions. Science now speculates that violence does not occur from a single cause but rather a combustive combination of environmental and biological factors.

Neglect and abuse, among other psychological and physical traumas, have the potential of damaging one’s development, leaving him/her vulnerable to emotional and behavioral instabilities. These environmental vulnerabilities, in combination with biological factors, may lead to aggressive and inappropriate behavior. Social speculation tends to look for external causes in an attempt to explain these horrible acts. Perhaps it is easier to rationalize such behavior if it is caused by someone or something else, instead of resulting from internal forces. We cannot, however, ignore these biological contributors. When studying violent individuals, neuroscientists and psychologists have found anatomical and physiological differences in the brain regions that regulate emotions: the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex. It is hypothesized that miscommunications between these two regions lead to deficiencies in emotional control and impulse control, characteristics that often culminate in reactive, violent behavior.

This theory, however, is unable to explain the horrific acts perpetrated by psychopaths. Known for their lack of empathy, as well as their calculated preparation, psychopaths need full functioning of the frontal brain region to facilitate long term planning of their egregious acts. Science speculates that although these individuals demonstrate intact impulse control, dysfunctions in the emotional and reward system of the brain has an adverse effect on socialization, resulting in emotional impairments (to include lack of empathy and guilt).

Other biological risks are present. While women are more prone to indirect, clandestine types of aggression, men are more prone to engage in overt acts of violence. It is hypothesized that testosterone, the male sex hormone, is linked to increased levels of aggressiveness. Testosterone, in combination with low levels of serotonin (an inhibitory, fear-reducing substance in the brain), have been linked to impulsive and antisocial acts in men. This neurochemistry, in combination with poor environmental factors, can often be a recipe for violence.

While violence is not limited to males, there is a scarcity of research focusing on female violent offenders based, simply, on the rarity of these types of aggressors. It is evident more research needs to be conducted with women to better understand violence from a cross-gendered perspective.

What can we learn from this research and subsequent hypotheses? Does this research suggest that children reared in disruptive and abusive homes inherently become violent, that men will egregiously act out, that individuals with prefrontal malfunctioning will be involved in a violent livelihood, or that abnormalities in the emotional and reward system of the brain will produce psychopaths? Not necessarily. We must remember that predicting and understanding violence is not an exact science and is subject to many variables; contextual, environmental and biological. At the very least this research continues to provide hypotheses for better understanding the unimaginable.

Source (in part): Strueber, D. Lueck, M, & Roth, M. (2007). The Violent Mind, Scientific American Mind, January 2007.

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Bullying: From the Playground to the Workplace – Part II: Advances in Legislation

Organizations throughout the United States are, undoubtedly, cognizant of the long standing state and federal laws prohibiting the harassment of individuals belonging to a “protected group.” These existing laws require harassment in the workplace to be discriminatory based upon race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, mental condition, marital status, sex, age, or sexual orientation. If this criterion is not met, then, under current law, the harassment is considered legal; though a recent legislative proposal may change this “status-blind and legal” form of workplace bullying.

The Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute (WBTI) has begun an aggressive campaign in legislatures across the United States, pushing the enactment of the Anti-Bullying Healthy Workplace Bill. The relatively new bill will substitute health-impairment for discrimination, and will extend protection to “all employees, working for either public or private employers, regardless of protected group status, who seek redress for being subjected to an abusive work environment” (Bully Busters, 2005). It will also punish any retaliation directed toward the complainant and / or any individual who assists the complainant.

Different versions of this bill are currently circulating through varying state legislatures, but the essential components include:

• The bill is to only address the most abusive, health-endangering circumstances

• Individuals must obtain documentation from a physician, psychologist, psychiatrist, or psychotherapist, showing that the abusive workplace environment has affected the targeted person’s mental or physical health. This documentation must be presented at the time of the trial.

• There will be no new government bureaucracy created; the bill costs the state nothing. As a result, individuals choosing to bring action under this bill will have to depend solely on private attorneys, as the state will have no enforcement role.

• The bullying employee is directly liable for the unlawful employment practice.

• The employer may be vicariously liable, though the bill offers ample opportunities for employers to reduce their chances of this occurring, including: 1) when it exercises reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct the abusive conduct, and 2) when negative employment decisions are consistent with legitimate business interests, the employee’s poor performance, or illegal or unethical activity

• The bill asserts that employer prevention can be accomplished through internal policies and enforcement, and that no new employer regulations will need to be created.

Proponents of the Healthy Workplace Bill stress that good employers with policies that are honestly enforced should have nothing to fear from the addition of this legislation, and that support for the bill is rapidly growing across the United States. Employers looking to be proactive should begin to prepare for the future by educating themselves on the basics of the bill, identifying ways it may impact their organization, and working to develop mechanisms which will minimize employer liability.

Sources: Bully Busters - National Coordinators of U.S. State Legislative Initiatives to Stop Workplace Bullying (www.bullybusters.org) and The Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute (www.bullyinginstitute.com).

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New Restrictions on Internet Use in the Workplace

As Internet access becomes more readily available to employees, companies are encountering new difficulties with internet usage in the workplace. In the past, employers have argued that employees should not be wasting company time and money surfing the Internet; however, as more jobs become dependant on accessing information via the web, restricting use to “business-only” functions has become problematic. Not only are sites such as YouTube and MySpace typically visited by employees for non-work related activities, but accessing the media files on those sites can also slow down a company’s technological resources and increase security risks. The time it will take other employees to access the internet, email, or transfer files on a network for business related functions will increase, resulting in an overall loss of productivity for the organization.

How can companies solve this growing problem? New software is quickly becoming available to organizations who want to filter more than the “sinful six” (pornography, gambling, illegal activities, violence, and tasteless or hateful sites). For example, Blue Coat Systems, Inc. can block online shopping sites for various periods during the day (the exception some companies are using is the lunch hour, where they allow employees to view these sites). Other software can limit the bandwidth available for viewing videos, therefore not hindering access to the organization’s network. Flexible restrictions, such as those mentioned above, allow companies to give their employees the freedom to use the Internet during breaks without impeding the goals of the business.

Source (in part): Vara, V. (2007). Web Filters’ New Job: Protect the Network. The Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2007.

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Staying a Step Ahead of Data Breaches

Nearly every week it seems, the media brings to light another breach of personal information by an organization or corporation. Through theft, loss, malicious hacking, or simply lax security, sensitive information entrusted to organizations by their clients, employees, and/or vendors is vulnerable. Corporations have been charged with the safe handling of confidential employee information for numerous years. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provide legal guidelines which organizations must abide by in an attempt to protect the employee’s information. Last year in the United States alone there were over 100 instances of corporate data breaches, while only fifteen of those were directly related to the loss of confidential employee information. The vast majority deal with consumers whose data has been comprised.

In an attempt to make companies more responsible for the safeguard of information entrusted to them, 22 states and one municipality have enacted data breach legislation that requires disclosure to the individual(s) that their personal data has been compromised. While data breach laws vary somewhat from state to state, there are some important similarities to which all organizations should be aware. The disclosure of only a narrowly defined set of personal information requires notification, for example, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, credit card or bank account numbers, medical records, etc. Data encryption may void mandatory notification in some circumstances. External disclosure and internal disclosure are treated the same under the law. As nearly all organizations possess the information listed above, it is paramount that they realize that a data breach is not a question of if, but when.

There are significant considerations organizations need to undertake during the development of a data breach protection program. Listed below are some of the issues that should be analyzed as the organization begins to develop its plan.

• As data is infrequently under the prevue of only one organizational department, it may be necessary to enlist the aid of numerous individuals, i.e. security, human resources, information technology, audit, and legal.

• Consideration should be given to the type of information the organization maintains and the necessity of the information.

• Good policies include segregation of the data protected by the data breach laws from other organizational data.

• Train all employees on your data protection plan, including third parties who serve as agents for your organization.

• Encrypt the data whenever possible.

Expending the time and effort developing a comprehensive data breach plan can significantly reduce organizational risk. Mitigating risk with regard to a data breach not only reduces any financial losses, but also helps to ensure that public perception of your organization remains positive.

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Hopefully, you are already aware of the ever growing identify theft epidemic in this age of electronically transmitted personal and financial data, and how to protect yourself and your private information. However, identity thieves also continue to find clever ways of stealing your information and your money. It has become more common than ever to be targeted by one or more of many types of scams that may find their way into your email inbox. Many people unwittingly fall prey to these hoaxes, not realizing their mistake until their information has already been compromised, or their money is long gone.

The popular scam known as “phishing” gets its name from scammers who send out bulk emails to potential victims, waiting for someone to take the bait and provide their private information. Many of these emails appear to be from banks or other institutions and companies that set up individual accounts for their customers or complete financial transactions online. These phishing emails will often tell the “customer” that their account has a problem or needs updating, and they will need to enter their names, passwords, account numbers, etc., to resolve the issue. Often, the messages will provide a link to the company’s supposed login screen. However, the false link will send you to a web page that looks very much like the company’s actual site, but actually belongs to the scammers themselves.

The first thing that customers should be suspicious of is the fact that the emails are directly asking for personal information. Most legitimate businesses will not solicit their customers for personal data directly over email. As a rule of thumb, never follow a link from an email to a site to enter your personal information. Instead, look up the company’s official site and log in to check your account. Things to look for from these phishing emails include: apparent typos in the message or misspelled URLs and email addresses, the return address does not belong to the company that has allegedly sent the message or the logo or links do not lead to the known URL for the company. Sometimes clicking on the link itself may infect your computer with a virus, so you may want to right-click on the link and select “properties” to see if it actually hyperlinks to the URL that the message says it will.

Phishing scams are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and come in many varieties, so if in doubt, ignore the email and call the company or type in the website manually to investigate any issues.

Another common scam that comes in many forms is known as the “Nigerian Scam” (also known as a “419 scam”). This type of scam originally came in the form of an unsolicited message from an individual in Nigeria (or any other country, as the scam has evolved). The message may claim that they are looking for an overseas party (the potential victim, maybe you) with whom they can deposit a large amount of money (usually many millions) which is an overpayment by the government or an inheritance. They claim they will need your help because they are unable to access or keep the money in their own country. Of course, they offer to give you a large portion of the money for your assistance. Victims who respond to the scam are then asked to forward large amounts of their own money in the form of a fee, tax, or bribe, in order for the venture to continue. The deal never actually occurs, and whatever money the victim gives is lost. Most people who fall prey to this kind of scam are either blinded by the amount of money they can potentially receive, or they feel an obligation to help out (if the story connects in the right way). A rule of thumb for anything that resembles one of these messages is to never send money to individuals you do not know. As is the case with most scams, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Please refer to www.scambusters.org for more information on these and other scams and hoaxes. Going on its thirteenth year and operated by Jim and Audri Lanford in Boone, North Carolina, Scambusters offers updated stories on the latest and most common scams, and the best ways to avoid or guard yourself from them. The different kinds of scams that now exist are almost countless, and the first step in protecting your personal information is to be informed on the dangers that may come looking for you in your inbox.

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