Bullies Enjoy The Misery Of Others

My son is half white and half Filipino. I’m not that big standing at 5′7″ and weighing a semi-fit 165, so I’m not that big of a dude, and Filipinos are generally not very big people either. So unfortunately for him, his genetics make him a bit smaller than most fifth graders and susceptible to bullies. The problem with bullies is that they don’t normally pick on someone their own size. They go for the smaller, defenseless kids. Is this being smart as to not get hurt themselves or is it being a coward? It’s being a coward, no doubt at all. The kids that pick fights with others of the same size or bigger are not bullies, they are just trouble makers.

So what makes a bully tick besides obvious insecurities that they take out on smaller children to feel better about themselves? According to Healthday.com and MSN Health, the brain scans of a bully show that their “Reward” part of their brain lights up when they see other experience pain.

“Aggressive adolescents showed a specific and very strong activation of the amygdala and ventral striatum (an area that responds to feeling rewarded) when watching pain inflicted on others, which suggested that they enjoyed watching pain,” researcher Jean Decety, a professor in psychology and psychiatry at the University of Chicago, said in a university news release.”

The article goes on to say had problems with the “Self-Regulation” part of the brain. So I guess it’s not their fault right? That will be the next excuse for some parents when their son is accused of being a bully.

Now I don’t condone violence but I always found that a swift kick to the testicles will shut off that “Reward” part of a bully’s brain for a short period of time and will sometimes teach the “self-regulation” part of his brain to learn to regulate a little better.

You can read more about this at (the source) MSN Health.

(Image Source: Newscom)