| Summary: | This program examines anger, from its primordial roots in self-defense to its expression in modern violence. We meet several men who have lost control of their anger and committed violent acts. One killed his wife for not obeying him; another smashed a car with a sledge hammer while enraged. Each of the men appear gentle and penitent in their quieter moments. What possesses them to lose control? Psychologists and neuroscientists from Duke University, University of Wisconsin, and University of California, with the help of sophisticated graphics, demonstrate the areas of the brain that become activated in such explosions of temper, such as the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Interestingly, the larger the amount of gray matter in the brain, the less prone the person is to acts of violence. The study of the origins of violence impacts on the judicial system as well. How responsible is a person for his or her behavior if their brain or genetic make-up is predisposed to violence? This film shows how the potential for impulsive anger lurks in our genes and what science can do to help us control it.
|
|---|