Sex, Food, Drug, Aggression

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, January 15 2008 @ 11:17 AM CST

Yeah, we all thought it was “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll” but it turns out that you can replace Rock and Roll in that classic formulation with food and aggression[*1] :

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2008) — New research from Vanderbilt University shows for the first time that the brain processes aggression as a reward – much like sex, food and drugs – offering insights into our propensity to fight and our fascination with violent sports like boxing and football.

“Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food,” Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics, said. “We have found that the ‘reward pathway’ in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved.”

That explains both hip-hop and, strangely enough, the Creepy Burger King.