PonerologyNews.com

A couple of months ago, we shared a story about a pilot episode for a CBS television show based on the work of a very intriguing professor who works on issues at the heart of ponerology. That person is Adrian Raine, professor of criminology, psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Today’s Wall Street Journal features a sizeable piece by Raine as its “Saturday Essay.”

The title of the essay is “The Criminal Mind” and underneath the title it says “Advances in genetics and neuroscience are revolutionizing our understanding of violent behavior—as well as ideas about how to prevent and punish crime.”

It doesn’t get much more relevant to ponerology than that. And it’s heartening to see Raine given a platform to share his extremely important and provocative ideas in The Wall Street Journal just in advance of the release of his book The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime.

Raine’s essay touches on: (more…)

One of the most important aspects of ponerology – a crucial one in seeking answers regarding why people act (or fail to act) in ways that do harm to others – is investigation into what goes on in the brain when people relate with each other in various ways. We might term such investigation “social neuroscience.”

Well there is actually a research journal by that very name. And that journal, Social Neuroscience, has recently honed in on topics at the very heart of ponerology. Its latest issue – Volume 8, Issue 2 – is a special issue focusing on aggression and violence.

It features an editorial entitled “The social cognitive neuroscience of aggression, violence, and psychopathy” followed by six studies that consider the links between neurological markers and responses and harmful behavior.

Here is a summary of the six studies in this special issue. (more…)