Comments on: Teenage Bullies are Rewarded With Pleasure, Brain Scans Show

By: Nessy

Nessy — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:24:30 +0000

I have experienced female bullies (NOT ONLY male ones!) too, as a teenager. They were also enjoying themselves very much, so I reckon it is NOT only a male problem. Perhaps in certain social environments female aggressiveness isn´t accepted, which would explain the outcomes of that experiment. Having been a teenager I had to bully people back to get rid of my bullies, which I had learnt to do over time. A change of the social environment might help too. On the whole I found out, that you can´t be nice nowadays, esp. as a teenager at highschool. You just won´t get away with it. Don´t get me wrong. I am not saying you have to be mean. But you can´t be polite and you shouldn´t be warmhearted towards your school mates. You can have friends at highschool, but they are not your family, so you shouldn´t tell them certain things. You should never trust them. Basically you have to show people you don´t need then. They disrespect you otherwise.

By: worried mama

worried mama — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:46:00 +0000

I just finished leaving my childs school wiping tears away. My child is 15 now and the sweetest child in the world, would befriend anyone no questions asked and has been picked on, spit on, slapped, and told she stunk. The teachers at the school do not care and they say yes we have seen her being picked on and thats awful but she causes it because of the things she does HAHA to fit in. So, what I want to know is this WHY with all the education we have and all the money being spent on those things that don’t really matter is our children suffering something has seriously went wrong in our society and someone needs to hold these childrens hands and tell them that they do matter and we will give you the tools to use to get this bullying stopped, until this happens it doesnt matter how much pain they inflict or whether its on purpose we the parents of the victims know ITS ON PURPOSE and we would like it stopped as soon as possible. worried mama

By: debra

debra — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:54:42 +0000

Whoa…before everyone assumes this is a genetic trait…what about the question of association???? isn’t it possible that by age 16, the association of pleasure with other’s pain is a learned behavioral response? I would be interested in looking at how it lights up on an MRI in 2, 4, 6 8, and 10 year olds identified as bullies and see if the MRI centers are similiarly being triggered.

By: Bryant

Bryant — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:57:33 +0000

Is there a study relating these behaviors into adulthood? Sociopathic tendenacys and/or Bi- Polarism

By: John

John — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:16:52 +0000

Doesn’t the fact that this trait is part of the genetic make up of bullies mean we need to accept it? Isn’t that the same basis for acceptance of homosexuality.

By: Murray Hill

Murray Hill — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:31:26 +0000

Clearly, some of these scientists have been raised in an overly sheltered environment, where negative behaviors and emotions were never observed.

By: Noah

Noah — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:32:07 +0000

I agree with Vince. We don’t need entire teams of scientists to tell us that some adolecents enjoy inflicting pain on other people. We should really start focusing on what we can do to prevent this.

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:08:01 +0000

They needed a STUDY to confirm this!?
I thought everyone knew that!