Human Science of Violence:
Resolving Problems Together
Sciencesphere 2007: PAEP
Greg Malszecki, Ph.D
LaMarsh Research Centre on Violence & Conflict Resolution
&
School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the new
Faculty of Health, York University
Check out these videos online:
• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6849099227117974232&q
=marines
• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5854686068870249151&q
=Oklahoma+Full+Auto+Shoot
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxclp4RmxEc
• Ask yourself: what is the cost of these solutions
to society’s problems?
Violence: rough force in action, harmful
action or treatment, illegal or unjust use of
physical force to injure or damage persons
or property
• “Violence is the antithesis of creativity and wholeness. It
destroys community and makes humanity impossible.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “There can be no peace as long as there is grinding
poverty, social injustice, inequality, oppression,
environmental degradation, and as long as the weak and
small continue to be downtrodden by the mighty and
powerful.”---Dalai Lama
Violate: break, disrespect, offend,
outrage, harm, exploit, destroy
What is Violence?
• Use of physical force to hurt, damage, or kill a person,
persons, property, communities, or earth
• Domestic violence of spouse, children, family, elders
either physical/sexual abuse
• Interpersonal violence in schools, sports, dating, assault,
rape, murder, war, ethnic cleansing
• Corporate violence on workers, communities, ecology
• Political violence of sexism/racism, policing, ethnic
cleansing, genocide, and war
• continuum of violence from within oneself (self-loathing/
threatening anxiety up to suicide) to assaults to murder
to war/crimes against humanity as well as environmental
degradation fueled by feelings of rage and culture of fear
Where does the continuum of
violence begin? What is its end?
Violence: can be directed toward
the self or toward others or both
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Most children know when there's bullying, but they don't report it. Bullying
problems tend to fester under the surface.
A study of Toronto schools found that a bullying act occurred every seven
seconds but teachers were aware of only four per cent of the incidents
Seven out of 10 teachers but only one in four students say that teachers
almost always intervene. Close to 40 per cent of victims say they have not
talked to their parents about the problem.
Ninety per cent of children say they find it unpleasant to watch bullying.
Peers are present in 85 per cent of bullying episodes on the playground and
in the classroom.
First Steps
Hear No Evil, See No Evil....
Lack of intervention implies that bullying is acceptable and can be done
without fear of consequences. Bullies and their accomplices need to
understand the harm they cause and that their behavior will not be tolerated
at school. They can change.
Bullies can take the fun out of school where bullying happens most and
turn something simple like a ride on the bus, stop at a locker, or walk to
the bathroom into a scary event that's anticipated with worry all day.
• Children who are bullied often experience low selfesteem and depression, whereas those doing the
bullying may go on to engage in more destructive,
antisocial behaviours as teens and adults. Bullies, who
often have been bullied themselves, may pick on others
to feel powerful, popular, important, or in control. Often,
they antagonize the same children repeatedly.
Sadly, bullying is widespread. According to a U.S. 2004
poll of children, 86% of more than 1,200 9- to 13-yearold boys and girls polled said they've seen someone else
being bullied, 48% said they've been bullied, and 42%
admitted to bullying other kids at least once in a while.
The Different Ways Kids Bully
• Bullying behaviour isn't always easy to define.
Where do you draw the line between goodnatured ribbing and bullying? Although teasing
resembles bullying because it can prompt
feelings of anger or embarrassment, teasing can
be less hostile and done with humour, rather
than harm. Teasing often promotes an exchange
between people rather than a one-sided dose of
intimidation.
Although the black eye is a concrete sign that
your child may be a victim of bullying, there are
many different ways kids bully that aren't always
as easy to spot:
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Bullying continued…
Cyber bullying a relatively new phenomenon began surfacing as modern
communication technologies advanced. Through email, instant messaging, Internet
chat rooms, and electronic gadgets like camera cell phones, cyber bullies forward
and spread hurtful images and/or messages. Bullies use this technology to harass
victims at all hours, in wide circles, at warp speed.
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Emotional bullying can be more subtle and can involve isolating or excluding a child
from activities (i.e., shunning the victim in the lunchroom or on school outings) or
spreading rumours. This kind of bullying is especially common among girls.
Physical bullying can accompany verbal bullying and involves things like kicking,
hitting, biting, pinching, hair pulling, or threats of physical harm.
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Racist bullying preys on children through racial slurs, offensive gestures, or making
jokes about a child's cultural traditions.
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Sexual bullying involves unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive or
inappropriate comments.
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Verbal bullying usually involves name-calling, incessant mocking, and laughing at a
child's expense.
Also, despite the common notion that bullying is a problem mostly among boys, both
boys and girls bully. But boys and girls can vary in the ways they bully. Girls tend to
inflict pain on a psychological level. For example, they might ostracize victims by
freezing them out of the lunchroom seating arrangements, ignoring them on the
playground, or shunning them when slumber party invitations are handed out.
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Boys aren't as subtle and they can get physical. For example, boy bullies are more
apt to insult their victims on the playground than ignore them. Instead of isolating a
non-athletic victim during a gym class dodgeball game, they might take relentless aim
and target the child throw after throw.
Bullying in Canada
For almost two decades the PREVNet Scientific Directors and their colleagues have
asked many children about their experiences with bullying and victimized or have bullied
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Why Worry About Children and Youth Who are Victimized?
Children and youth who are victimized are at risk for a range of emotional, behaviour and
relationship problems including:
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Low self-concept
School absenteeism
Depression
Stress-related health problems (e.g., headaches, stomach aches)
Social anxiety and loneliness
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(Further) social withdrawal and isolation
Aggressive behaviours and bullying In the most extreme cases, suicidal thoughts and suicide
Why Worry About Children and Youth Who Both Bully and are Victimized?
Children and youth who are involved both in bullying others and in being bullied by their peers
experience the most serious emotional, behavioural, and relationship problems. The report
problems associated with both bullying others and being victimized as listed above. These children
and youth require the most intensive support.
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http://www.prevnet.ca/
About PREVNet
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The Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network
(PREVNet) is a coalition of Canadians concerned about bullying. The
primary goal of PREVNet is to translate and exchange knowledge about
bullying to enhance awareness, to provide assessment and intervention
tools, and to promote policy related to the problems of bullying. Through this
comprehensive and authoritative website, PREVNet will disseminate
knowledge about problems of bullying in a manner that is responsive to, and
reflective of, the broadest diversity of community concerns in Canada. The
website is designed for multiple audiences - children and youth, parents,
educators, health professionals, media, public and private organizations,
and members of communities throughout Canada.
This website is designed to:
Translate empirical findings, promote awareness and understanding.
Provide standardized assessment and evaluation tools.
Provide guidance on evidence-based intervention strategies.
Guide the development of policy and advocacy to reduce bullying problems
among Canadian children and youth.
PREVNet is designed to be the authoritative link providing empirically based
research and information on PREVNet's four pillars: Education,
Assessment, Intervention, and Policy.
How often have you been victimized in the last
two months?
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Source:
Craig, W.M., Pepler, D.J., Jiang, D., & Connolly, J. (in preparation). Victimization in Children
and Adolescents: A developmental and relational perspective.
Myth: Bullying does not cause any
serious harm.
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Fact: Bullying is associated with a range of physical and mental health problems, as
well as suicide, educational problems, antisocial problems, and relationship problems.
For example:
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Victimized children are more likely to report headaches and stomach aches than nonvictimized children (Due et al., 2005; Williams, et al., 1996). Children who both bully
and are victimized may be at greatest risk for physical health problems.
Victimized children are more likely to report anxiety and depressive symptoms than
children uninvolved in bullying (Due et al, 2005; Kaltiala-Heino et al, 1999). Of
greatest concern is the fact that psychiatric problems associated with involvement in
bullying tend to persist into later life (Kumpulainen & Rasanen, 2000).
A high risk of suicidal ideation (having thoughts of suicide) is found among children
who are bullied, who bully others, and who are involved in both roles (Kaltiala-Heinoet
al., 1999).
Both victimized children and children who bully are at risk for poor school functioning,
in terms of poor attitudes towards school, low grades, and absenteeism (Rigby, 2003;
Tremblay, 1999).
20-25% of frequently victimized children report bullying as the reason for missing
school (Rigby, 2003).
Youth who bully others are more likely to use alcohol and drugs (Pepler et al., 2002),
and are at risk for later criminality. For example, 60% of boys who bully others in
elementary school had criminal records by age 24 (Olweus, 1991).
Signs of Bullying Others
Children and youth who bully may show behaviours or emotional signs
that they are using power aggressively:
• Little concern for others’ feelings
• Does not recognize impact of his/her behaviour on
others
• Aggressive with siblings, parents, teachers, friends, and
animals
• Bossy and manipulative to get own way
• Possessing unexplained objects and/or extra money
• Secretive about possessions, activities, and
whereabouts
• Holds a positive attitude towards aggression
• Easily frustrated and quick to anger
Lens on the Child or Youth’s Relationships: Signs of Bullying Others
Children who bully others often experience power and aggression in their own
relationships or in those close to them:
• Parents may model use of power and aggression by
yelling, hitting, rejecting child
• Parents may model use of power and aggression with
each other
• Siblings may bully child at home
• Child has friends who bully and are aggressive
• Child has trouble standing up to peer pressure
• Teachers or coaches may model use of power and
aggression by yelling, excluding, rejecting
• Few opportunities to shine and show talents at home,
school, or in the community (positive power).
Lens on the Individual Child or Youth: Signs of Victimization
Children and youth who are being victimized often show a change in
behaviour and/or emotions:
• Not wanting to go to school or participate in extracurricular activities
• Anxious, fearful, over-reactive
• Exhibits low self-esteem and makes negative comments
about him/herself
• Headaches and stomach aches
• Lower interest and performance in school
• Loses things, needs money, reports being hungry after
school
• Injuries, bruising, damaged clothing, broken things
• Unhappy, irritable, little interest in activities
• Trouble sleeping, nightmares, bedwetting
• Expresses threats to hurt himself/herself or others
Lens on the Child or Youth’s Relationships: Signs of
Victimization
• Children and youth who are victimized often lack
relationships in which they can experience positive
identity, power, and independence:
• Parents may be overprotective, restrictive
• Siblings may bully child at home
• Lonely and isolated at school
• Few friends at school or in neighbourhood
• Teachers may be unaware of child’s strengths and
challenges and therefore unresponsive to needs.
• Few opportunities to shine and show talents at home,
school, or in the community (positive power)
World Health Organization: Suicide
Prevention
• In the year 2000, approximately one million people died
from suicide: a "global" mortality rate of 16 per 100,000,
or one death every 40 seconds.
• In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60%
worldwide. Suicide is now among the three leading
causes of death among those aged 15-44 years (both
sexes); these figures do not include suicide attempts up
to 20 times more frequent than completed suicide.
• Although traditionally suicide rates have been highest
among the male elderly, rates among young people have
been increasing to such an extent that they are now the
group at highest risk in a third of countries, in both
developed and developing countries.
• What do you know about youth suicide in Canada?
Canadian Children’s Rights Council: Canadian
Task Force on Preventative Health Care
• The male:female ratio for suicide risk was 3.8:1. In both
males and females, the greatest increase between 1960
and 1991 occurred in the 15-to-19-year age group, with
a four-and-a-half-fold increase for males, and a threefold increase for females but rising significantly!
• In a survey of 15,000 grade 7 to 12 students in British
Columbia, 34% knew of someone who had attempted or
died by suicide; 16% had seriously considered suicide;
14% had made a suicide plan; 7% had made an attempt
and 2% had required medical attention due to an
attempt.
• Suicide is most often a process, not an event. Eight out
of ten people who die by suicide gave some, or even
many, indications of their intentions.
Who is at risk?
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Most people feel suicidal at some time in their lives. The overwhelming desire to
escape from pain can be relieved when the problem or pressure is relieved. Learning
effective coping techniques to deal with stressful situations can help.
In Canada, suicide is the second highest cause of death for youth aged 10-24. Each
year, on average, 294 youths die from suicide. Many more attempt suicide. Aboriginal
teens and gay and lesbian teens may be at particularly high risk, depending on the
community they live in and their own self esteem.
For every youth suicide completion, there are nearly 400 suicide attempts. Average
figures hide the existence of certain population groups which are at extremely high
risk for suicide: including prison inmates, persons with certain mental health
problems, and Natives. (294 x 400= 117, 600 attempts, not incl. driving accidents)
• Suicide rates in the Canadian Native
population are more than twice the sexspecific rates, and three times the agespecific rates of non-Native Canadians.
Among native youth, the problem is
epidemic.
Interventions & Challenges
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Strategies involving restriction of access to common methods of suicide have proved
to be effective in reducing suicide rates
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There is compelling evidence indicating that adequate prevention and treatment of
depression, alcohol and substance abuse can reduce suicide rates.
School-based interventions involving crisis management, self-esteem enhancement
and the development of coping skills and healthy decision making have been
demostrated to reduce the risk of suicide among the youth.
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Worldwide, the prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to
basically a lack of awareness of suicide as a major problem and the taboo in many
societies to discuss openly about it. In fact, only a few countries have included
prevention of suicide among their priorities.
Reliability of suicide certification and reporting is an issue in great need of
improvement.
It is clear that suicide prevention requires intervention also from outside the health
sector and calls for an innovative, comprehensive multi-sectoral approach, including
both health and non-health sectors, e.g. education, labour, police, justice, religion,
law, politics, the media.
Youth violence in Canada
• Every year, approximately 1 in 10 youth comes into contact with the
police for violations of the Criminal Code or other federal statutes
Most=property crimes.
• Therefore, it is only a small minority of young people who become
involved with the young offender system. Data collected in 1995
indicate that, of these youth, 19% were charged with a violent
offence.
• Recent research on Canadian university and college campuses
found between 16% and 35% of women surveyed had experienced
at least one physical or sexual assault by a boyfriend in the previous
12 months. Approximately 45% of the women surveyed reported
they had been sexually abused since leaving high school.9 Although
this research used a sample over the age of 19, the findings are
applicable to the youth population. Recent qualitative research with
a sample of 13 to 17 year-old girlfriend abusers suggests that youth
violence against female dating partners is an issue in primary and
high schools.
How common is youth violence?
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By the age of 13, approximately 55 percent of boys and 27 percent of girls reported
having been in a fight
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According to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health,
approximately one in ten students reported involvement in all of the following
behaviors within the past 12 months: assault, fighting at school, having serious
thoughts of committing suicide, and carrying a weapon. In addition, approximately 25
percent of students reported being bullied at school since the beginning of the school
year and approximately 33 percent of students reported having bullied someone else.
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The general consensus within the field is that youth violence is something that is
learned and therefore can be prevented.
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Violent conduct comprises a wide range of behaviours, from bullying and verbal
abuse, through fighting, to rape and homicide. In Canada in 1997, there were 58
homicidal deaths among young men aged 15–24 years, making homicide the fourth
leading cause of death (after unintentional injuries, suicide and cancer) in this age
group. More recent concerns have been triggered by escalating rates of early
childhood aggression, violence perpetrated by female youth and suicide attributed to
distress from bullying.1
Inadequate Theories of Violence
• Biological explanations: genetics, drives,
testosterone, teeter-totter brain, no signals
• Behavioural explanations: human instinct a la
Freud, learned aggression, frustration, wrong
parenting, violent subcultures, ethnic disposition,
faulty role-playing, media-generated imagery,
psychological deficiencies, criminal personality
• Evolutionary explanations: birthing trauma,
animal regression, differentiating sexes, “manthe-hunter”, historical imprints, moral/legal
civilizing processes & definitions, violent cultures
Problems in these Approaches
• Violence has a gender: males excel at it!
• Biological explanations do not account for
individual agency/cross-cultural patterns
• Behavioural explanations do not account for the
complex social causes of violence, e.g.
unemployment, denial of violence, media
• Violence does not occur spontaneously
• Violence often instrumental to “prove”
masculinity by males, yet not all males use it
Recent Examples
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School shootings in Canada & USA
Murder of native women: gender hate & racist targeting
Gang shootings in Toronto and major cities
Domestic violence & child assault reporting
Catholic priests convictions for pedophilia
Impact of cumulative increase in media violence
Light penalties for environmental criminals
Increased need for respect in the face of equalizing of sexes:
Montreal Massacre’89, Dawson College last year
• Severe widening of gap between rich & poor along ethnic lines
• At the beginning of 2003, there were thirty wars (conflicts claiming
more than 1000 lives)
• Violence increasing, not decreasing: torture “acceptable”
• When did you last witness someone bullied at school or home?
Exploring New Ways of Knowing:
Science & Humanities/Values &
Society
New Century looks very much like old one: why?
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• As far as social science’s impact on quality of life for the
general population, the world is still flat
• Of the $9.2 billion in new federal expenditures since
1998, only approximately $1 billion, or 11%, has funded
research in the humanities and social sciences.
• Money spent on weapons research, technical
developments, and conspicuous consumption reinforces
denial of social analysis and cripples research initiatives
• Male supremacist ideology neglects study of violence as
“human nature”
• Omitted research on spanking as harmful abuse
• The scientists investigating the human context of
violence is miniscule compared vast number of
researchers in the physical & life sciences, i.e. ‘nonhuman science’
Case Study:
Testosterone=Aggression
• Robert Sapolsky, “Tesosterone rules!” (1998): t-levels
cannot predict which males will be violent
• ‘boys will be boys’—but environmental triggers of
aggression work to release the hormone into the system
• Even if much higher levels are introduced, social
environment plays a major role in subsequent behaviour
• Biology is NOT destiny in the male: stereotype disproved
in labs & field studies; “normal” N.A. males not violent
• Even castration does not result in no aggression
• Critical to remember the limits of biology: meaningless
outside of the context of social factors of human milieu
• All science is “human” science---we are both
subjects/objects but this context is omitted from results
Preventing Violence
James Gilligan (2000): almost every act of violence
preventable, if it is an actual top priority
• Abolish moral/legal approach as vicious cycle but treat it
as a public health threat
• Shame & perceived disrespect are triggers for
violence—to restore self-esteem for males esp.
• Social causes: relative poverty/jobless rate, caste
rankings, shame culture, wars, gender role
• Violence “proves” masculinity (as homophobia), i.e., use
of force is a trait of a “real” man in public
• Restorative strategies offer hope of resolution
• Violent punishments increase violent behaviours
On Killing: The Psychological Cost
of Learning to Kill in War & Society
• Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (1996): most
researchers + gen. public never recognize
resistance to killing as nearly universal
• Killing is traumatic: easier from a distance,
psychiatric casualty rate in combat: 98%
• Factors: demands of authority, group
absolution, emotional distance, type of victim,
killer’s predisposition, death-math: training,
recent experiences, temper
• What are we doing to our children? Media is
actually de-sensitizing us, intensified by Internet
& videogaming: the new numbness
What Every Person Should Know
about War (2003)
• Chris Hedges, NY Times war correspondent, authored
War is a Force that gives us meaning
• Bullets travel 730 m/s over a kilometre; 40% combat
deaths = head/neck wounds
• Of past 3400 years, humans have been entirely at peace
for 8% of them
• Between 1900-1990, 43 million soldiers died but 62
million civilians; in the 1990s, civilian deaths were
between 75-90% of all war deaths
• Most recruits MUST be trained to kill (Pavlovian &
operant conditioning)
• But killing humans requires training & abuse
• See Gwynne Dyer’s doc: “Anybody’s Son Will Do”
Investigating War as Violence
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Gwynne Dyer, War, New Edition (2004)
Joshua Goldstein, War & Gender (2001)
Barbara Ehrenreich, Blood Rites (1997)
David Jones, Women Warriors (1997)
Joseph Kuypers, Man’s Will to Hurt (1992)
Glen Stassen, Just Peacemaking (1998)
Howard Zinn, Just War (2005)
Elimination of Violence
• LaMarsh Research Centre on Violence & Conflict Resolution (York
U.)
• UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948) authored by John Peters
Humphrey (Can.): no UNESCO = no PAEP!
• York U. new student club “Health as a Bridge to Peace” promoting
health locally & globally
• Elizabeth Stanko, Violence Research Program, (London, England)
• Frame all violence as a Health Issue in a culture of violence, not a
“behavioural” one or one of ‘human nature’
UN Sec-Gen’s Study of Violence
Against Children (June 2005)
• Covers family, community, schools, media,
other institutions + esp. vulnerable kids
• Identifies gaps in research & stats info
• “Evidence demonstrates that these
violations…have serious & lifelong effects
on children’s devel. & society as a whole”
• “…what happens to you as a child will
stay with you the rest of your life” 13 yr
old girl
Situation Urgent: Global Priority
• Annual estimates US $ billions: UN (1998)
basic education for all humanity: 6 b.
water/sanitation for all: 9 b.
basic health/nutrition for all: 13 b.
• Ice cream bought in EU: 11 b.
• Pet Food costs in USA & Europe: 17 b.
• Narcotic Drugs globally: 400 b.
• Military Spending globally: 780 b.
Youth: Take a look at choices
• What can you do to initiate dialogue in your circle of
friends and school?
• Have school-wide discussions about bullying & youth
suicide; consult PREVnet website!
• Turn attention to the cultural supports for hostility
• Look at everyday rage instead of focus on weapons
• VRP Site
• Peace Brigades
• War Child site
• UNICEF
• PAEP
LaMarsh Research Centre@YorkU
• Focuses on violence, youth, & health
• has Child/Youth Violence Research Group
• Home of Canadian Initiative for Prevention
of Bullying (develops awareness & tools)
• Offers Brazilian Ball funds for Seed Grants
& Research Development Grants aimed at
reducing violence in the lives of children &
youth, plus Graduate Awards for students
How do we solve the problems
together?
What to do?
• Support anti-violence education and anti-bullying
along with peace efforts & personal responses
• Acknowledge the male gender of violence: key
• Redefine theories by including social context
• Take profit/pleasure out of pain: cruelty numbs
• Destroy weapons and use of force: end fighting
culture and refuse it as a solution to all conflict
• Admit negative role of media: inform investors
• Seek partnerships & promote health through
absolute insistence on all essential human rights
Conclusion
“What is conditioned can be deconditioned.
Men can change” --Catherine Itzin
“Witnessing violence teaches you violence
and makes you hate.” --Adolescent, Sask.
Youth in Care & Custody Network
Violence begins with ignorance and
ends with understanding.
“if it is to be, it is up to me”
The state of inner readiness is
known as hope: what is your
resolution?
“Spring when flowers burst out of hard
patches of wintered land makes growth
look so easy, but do not be fooled;
growth is the process of staying with
what seems futile and useless and
ungiving and barren until it becomes
something that we know was worth
doing. Growth is the process of finally
finding good where for a while no good
seemed to be”—
Joan Chittister, feminist theologian &
ecologist
This is where you come in…