Public security

SCIENTISTS SCANNED BRAINS OF BULLIES AND FOUND SOMETHING GRIM

An international team of neuroscientists scanned the brains of lifelong bullies and found something grim: Bullies’ brains appear to be physically smaller than other brains.

“Our findings support the idea that, for the small proportion of individuals with life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour, there may be differences in their brain structure that make it difficult for them to develop social skills that prevent them from engaging in antisocial behaviour,” said lead author Christina Carlisi, a researcher at the University College London.

For the study, published in prestigious journal The Lancet, the team used an MRI machine to examine the brains of 652 participants.

The study found that the brains of people with lifelong patterns of “stealing, aggression and violence, bullying, lying, or repeated failure to take care of work or school responsibilities” were different, physically, from those of the other participants.