Psychobiology of Violence

There clearly are linkages between violence and psychobiology—the mental functioning and behavior in relation to other biological processes—but how they are linked depends on the individual, the context, and the researcher’s interpretation. Studies employing modern biological techniques and media expressions of violence (rather than assessments [Page 294]based on questionnaires, staged situations or direct observation of participation in real life, or sporting events) have simply not, as yet, been carried out. However, some research on violent video games has found effects on aggression. A longitudinal study with German adolescents, conducted by Ingrid Moller and Barbara Krahe (2009), revealed that playing violent electronic games had a long-term effect on later physical (but not indirect/relational) aggression. A later study by Matthias Bluemke, Monika Friedrich, and Joerg Zumbach (2010) ...