Program & Abstract Book - EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009

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EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009: Understanding Violence S-3 28 February 11-13 2009 ag g r e s s i o n, s e r o t o n i n , a n D g e n e X e n v i r o n - m e n t i n t e r a c t i o n s Suomi, Stephen J. Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland Recent research has disclosed marked individual differences in patterns of biobehavioral development exhibited by rhesus monkeys across the life span. For example, approximately 5-10% of rhesus monkeys growing up in the wild consistently exhibit impulsive and/or inappropriately aggressive responses to mildly stressful situations throughout development; those same individuals also show chronic deficits in their central serotonin metabolism. These characteristic patterns of biobehavioral response emerge early in life and remain remarkably stable from infancy to adulthood. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that although these characteristics are highly heritable, they are also subject to major modification by specific early experiences, particularly those involving early social attachment relationships. For example, a specific polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene is associated with deficits in serotonin metabolism, extreme aggression, and excessive alcohol consumption among monkeys who have experienced insecure early attachment relationships but not in monkeys who have developed secure attachment relationships with their mothers during infancy (“maternal buffering”). Moreover, because the attachment style of a monkey mother is typically “copied” by her daughters when they grow up and become mothers themselves, similar buffering is likely to occur for the next generation of infants carrying that specific polymorphism.
EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009: Understanding Violence S-4 Abstracts for Speakers th e ev o l u t i o n an D aD a p t i v e fu n c t i o n s o f an g e r , ag g r e s s i o n a n D vi o l e n c e Blanchard, Caroline Pacific Biosciences Research Center, and Dept. of Genetics and Molecular Biology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii Evolutionary analyses of behavior begin with information indicating that the behavior in question is present, to varying degrees, in individuals within a species; that it can be analyzed in terms of antecedent conditions and probable outcomes in situations similar to those in which the species evolved; and that there is evidence of a genetic influence on that behavior. Additional factors, such as relatively consistent sex or age-based modulation of that behavior may contribute to the specificity and rigor of analysis. For aggression and violence, long regarded as aberrant behaviors, all of these conditions are met. Under a wide range of known conditions, aggression and some other forms of violence may be highly adaptive responses, for both the aggressive individual and its relatives. This talk will examine the circumstances eliciting or facilitating different aspects of aggression and violence, across mammalian species, with attention to factors such as resource competition, bodily threats to the individual, weapon systems, social structures, and age and sex differences. While the focus will be on nonhuman mammals, application of information from such species may be applied to aggression and violence in people. The human experience of anger is strongly associated with some forms of aggression, as well as aggressive motivations that may not be expressed in actions. Anger may therefore provide insights into the situations that elicit aggression and violence in humans, and the goals with which it is associated, as well as social, demographic, and individual factors that contribute to the inhibition of overt aggression and violence. 29
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