Joel Rifkin

The most stand-out causes for violence mentioned in the films fell within two major categories: biological, and social. Biologically, some of the causes of aggression were due to an imbalance between the chemicals of Serotonin and Vasopressin. Jim Fallon also points out a genetic marker that could also predict violent behavior. Fallon explains that the combination of this genetic marker in tandem with early life trauma is a strong indicator for a person to exhibit psychopathic murderous tendencies (Fallon, 2009). Socially, precursor events related to things such as socioeconomic status, neglect, and abuse. In the case of Joel Rifkin, he was raised in a loving family but was the victim of bullying in school. Despite the encouragement of other,

His IQ was even noted for being above average. But when it came to task objective testing, Rifkin began to exhibit more difficulty. The color/word association test, where participants are told to say the color of the ink and not the word typed, Rifkin could not complete the test. It was stated that he began laughing uncontrollably and they had to end the test. Then during an impulse control task, where a participant is told to raise his finger when they hear one knock and to not react when presented with two knocks, Rifkin failed 16 out of 100 attempts. These tests indicated problems with coordination and impulse control. These results were supported with PET scans that indicated subtle and non-symmetrical activity in the prefrontal areas. The results of the PET scan, though initially deemed normal, were later deemed significant enough to warrant the observed

In that study, researchers placed hamsters in cages with older, larger, more aggressive hamsters and monitored the behavior. The larger hamsters would constantly chase and attack the test hamster. The test hamsters would not fight back and would eventually become very submissive every time they were placed in cages that contained hamsters of equal or larger size. If those submissive test hamsters were placed in cages with smaller hamsters, the test hamster would become instantly aggressive and attack the smaller hamster. Upon further study, the researchers found that the chemical levels in the brain (predominantly Serotonin and Vasopressin) were off, with low levels of serotonin and extremely high levels of vasopressin. In the case of rhesus monkeys, researchers studied young monkeys that were exposed to emotional abuse or neglect, and were also raised among other young rhesus monkeys with little supervision of a parent monkey. What they found in a majority of the cases was that the monkeys would eventually turn violent against their peers. The ramification of these studies also hold importance in humans; as it shows that both environmental and biological influences are tied to one-another and given the right combination could lead to violence. And that not one single indicator is solely