It has been well documented that, across human cultures and in most mammals, males are more aggressive than females. It is simple to blame male hormones but a new study has found the role of brain in the behaviour.

A group of researchers at the Vanderbilt University in the United States has carried out the study and found that
it is the human brain which processes aggression as a reward much like sex, food and drugs.

“We have found that the ‘reward pathway’ in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved.

“It’s well known that dopamine is produced in response to rewarding stimuli such as food, sex and drugs of abuse. What we have now found is that it also serves as positive reinforcement for aggression,” the ScienceDaily quoted lead researcher Maria Couppis as saying.

The researchers came to the conclusion after analysing the involvement of brain in aggression on rodents.

According to co-researcher Craig Kennedy, “We learned from these experiments that an individual will intentionally seek out an aggressive encounter solely because they experience a rewarding sensation from the same.”