Essentials: Understanding & Controlling Aggression
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What are the different types of aggression discussed?
Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are discussing aggression. I'm going to explain to you that there are several different types of aggression. For instance, reactive aggression versus proactive aggression, meaning sometimes people will be aggressive because they feel threatened or they are protecting those that they love who also feel threatened. There's also proactive aggression where people go out of their way to deliberately try and harm others.
And there is indirect aggression, which is aggression not involving physical violence. For instance, shaming people and things of that sort. It turns out that there are different biological mechanisms underlying each of the different types of aggression. And today I will define those for you. I'll talk about the neural circuits in the brain and body that mediate each of the different kinds of aggression. Talk about some of the hormones and peptides and neurotransmitters involved. I promise to make it all accessible to you, even if you do not have any biology or science background. I'm certain that by the end of the episode, you will come away with a much more thorough understanding of what this thing that we call aggression really is.
And when you see it in other people, I think it will make more sense to you. And when you observe it in yourself or the impulse to engage in aggression, verbal or physical or otherwise, I hope that you'll understand it better as well. And of course, the tools that I will describe should allow you to modulate and control aggressive tendencies or predispositions to aggressiveness, and just generally be able to engage with people in a more adaptive way overall. The context of aggression really matters.
How do hormones like estrogen and testosterone influence aggression?
So there are instances where aggression is adaptive, for instance, a mother protecting her children. Of course, other forms of aggression like unprovoked proactive aggression, somebody simply being violent to somebody else, even when unprovoked.
What role does sunlight and seasonal changes play in aggression?
Most of us cringe when we see that kind of behavior. It can even evoke aggression in people when they observe that kind of behavior.
How can cortisol and serotonin levels affect aggressive behavior?
Many of you have probably heard the statement that I believe arises from pop psychology, not from formal academic psychology, that aggression is just sadness. It's a form of sadness that's amplified and it shows up as aggression.
What tools can help reduce cortisol and manage aggression?
But when we look at the underlying biology and the peer reviewed literature on this, Nothing could be further from the truth. We have distinct circuits in the brain for aggression versus grief and mourning. Those are non-overlapping. Now that doesn't mean that you can't be sad and aggressive or in a state of mourning and aggressive at the same time.
How does genetics influence aggression and irritability?
But the idea that sadness and aggression are one in the same thing is simply not true. And by understanding that, or perhaps by understanding that irritability and aggression are not the same thing.
What is the impact of acetyl-L-carnitine on aggressive behavior?
You'll be in a much better position to apply some of the tools that we will talk about in this episode in order to be able to reduce or eliminate, or if it's adaptive to you to modulate aggression. And yes, there are cases where modulating your aggression in some cases, even amplifying aggression can be adaptive. One of the names that's most associated with the formal study of aggression is none other than Conrad Lorenz. Conrad Lorenz studied so-called imprinting behaviors and fixed action pattern behaviors, patterns of behavior that could be evoked by a single stimulus. The idea that you can get a whole category of behaviors, like looking to somebody for comfort and only them, the idea that you could get a huge category of different behaviors in a bunch of different contexts triggered by just the presence of that person.
is remarkable because what it suggested and what turns out to be true is that there are neural circuits, not just individual brain areas, but collections of brain areas that work together to engage a pattern of behaviors.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the different types of aggression discussed?
0:00–1:45
2
How do hormones like estrogen and testosterone influence aggression?
1:45–2:00
3
What role does sunlight and seasonal changes play in aggression?
2:00–2:07
4
How can cortisol and serotonin levels affect aggressive behavior?
2:07–2:22
5
What tools can help reduce cortisol and manage aggression?
2:22–2:41
6
How does genetics influence aggression and irritability?
2:41–2:53
7
What is the impact of acetyl-L-carnitine on aggressive behavior?
2:53–21:33
8
What actionable strategies can help modulate aggression?
21:33–37:22
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Huberman Lab
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Essentials: Use Sleep to Enhance Learning, Memory & Emotional State | Dr. Gina Poe
How to Accelerate Learning & Improve Education | Joe Liemandt