One of the main points in the theory is the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and their adulthood personalities. I believe that personality is a distinct set of traits that make a person unique from other people. In an article written by Reavis et al. (2013), they discovered that there was a relationship between adult violence and adverse childhood experiences. A survey was then conducted on 6 th , 9 th and 12 th grade students and they identified certain effects that occurred during childhood that affected their behavior. The adverse effects involved either household dysfunction or abuse. The abuse could have been sexual or physical that was committed by family or other non-family members such as their classmates or friends. Household dysfunction is involved family drug or alcohol abuse, and witnessing family violence. All the participants associated with one or more of 5 types of violence: weapon carrying, delinquency, dating violence, bullying, dating violence, and physical fighting (Reavis et al., 2013). I believe that adverse childhood experiences have an effect on the brain of the child making them more susceptible to violence in adulthood. The paper will discuss the adult violence personality theory.
The adverse effects of childhood experiences were more pronounced in the male gender. For every negative event that occurred in the male subjects, the risks of violence increased and ranged between 35 % and 144 %. For instance, male children were about 4.5 times more likely to engage in dating violence during young adulthood if they were molested by one or more of their family members and about 26 times if it occurred through a non-family member (De Young et al. 2011). There is a strong link between adult violence and negative childhood experiences. Furthermore, a majority of adult male sex offenders were about 4 times likely to have experienced sexual abuse during their childhood compared to other male sex offenders who had not experienced sexual abuse during their childhood. The personality theory will put together information from different authors to explain the effect of adverse childhood experience on their personality.
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Discussion of the Adult Violence Personality Theory
I chose the theory because of the experience one of my relative faced due to childhood violence and I wanted to have a clear understanding of the effects it had on their personality. Various psychological scientists have discovered that the size of different parts of the brain can correspond to an individual’s personality. For instance, people who are conscientious often have a larger lateral prefrontal cortex, a section of a person’s brain that deals with controlling and planning behaviors. They also found out that the personality traits can be categorized into 5 main groups: openness/intellect, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism (Reavis et al., 2013). They attempted to find out how the diverse personality traits are related to the size of different parts of the brain. Hence, I am convicted that certain sections of the brain are affected when a child experience adverse experiences. The main assumption in the theory is that the adverse experiences in childhood may later influence their personality traits in adulthood.
Out of the 5 categories of traits, neuroticism and extraversion are the most common categories because of their underlying processes. There have been notable experimental and theoretical proofs that the two categories represent the core exhibition of personality regarding their sensitivity to punishment, reward, and sensitivity. Extraversion is related to the ability to experience the positive emotions that typically originate from being rewarded or being promised a reward (De Young et al. 2011). It includes a list of traits such as talkativeness, assertiveness, and sociability. The three traits relate to an individual’s sensitivity to being rewarded. In most situations, extraversion emanates in social behavior because most human rewards are related to their social status or affiliation. Their sensitivity to rewards is the primary factor in extraversion. Hence, I believe that such traits will exhibit themselves in the structural areas of the brain that are sensitive to rewards such as orbitofrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and amygdala.
Neuroticism is related to a person’s ability to experience various negative emotions and is mainly associated with traits such as irritability, anxiety, and self-consciousness. Hence, an assumption that neuroticism is related to the structural system or variation of the brain that is sensitive to punishment and threat such as the hippocampus, amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and the mid and anterior mid-cingulate cortex. Therefore, I assumed that this is the section of the brain that is affected by negative experiences during childhood because of the threat and punishments that the children may have experienced. Furthermore, there is extensive neural activity in the prefrontal cortex. It is the region where emotion regulation and self-evaluation takes place (De Young et al. 2011). Also, emotional dysregulation, low self-esteem, and rumination are the primary traits in neuroticism. Negative experiences such as physical, emotional or sexual abuse may affect the structural system of the brain related to neuroticism making the child more susceptible to violence during adulthood.
Agreeableness is the category identified with some traits connected to altruism or an individual’s concerns for the rights, needs, and desires of other people. It acts contrary to extraversion which can lead to enjoyment of other people. The primary traits of agreeableness exhibit prosocial traits such as politeness, cooperation, and compassion. However, it may also exhibit negative or antisocial traits such as aggression and callousness (De Young et al. 2011). It is a psychological trait that gives an individual the ability to understand the emotions, mental state, and intentions such as the theory of mind, empathy, and other processes of social information. Hence, it will be exhibit itself in the structural area of the brain that processes such mechanisms such as posterior cingulate cortex, superior temporary sulcus, and temporoparietal junction.
Openness is related to the ability to manipulate and process the perceptual and abstract information effectively and flexibly. The category is exhibited in traits such as aesthetic value, imagination, and intellectual engagement. If a person has high levels of openness, it reveals that they have a larger ability or bandwidth information to process and it results in an increased permeability, breadth, and depth of consciousness. It mainly involves the prefrontal cortex especially the parts involved with control of attention, working memory, and abstract reasoning (De Young et al. 2011). It is the only category of traits that is positively and consistently related to intelligence, a factor that is governed by the structural parts of the brain that may overlap or function simultaneously with the working memory. Hence, it will affect the structural parts of the brain that involves reasoning, working memory, and attention such as the anterior parietal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the frontal pole.
It is evident that some sections of the brain may be involved in producing different traits. For instance, the lateral PFC is associated with openness and conscientiousness. It also means that if one section of the brain is affected negatively, it may affect various traits of the individual. I hypothesized that children are more prone to abuse than adults (De Young et al. 2011). Different parts of the brain that are affected during childhood may affect their personality as they mature. I suggest that the part of the brain that deals with neuroticism is mainly affected by negative experiences because of its sensitivity to punishment and threat.
Sources of Information
The paper will rely on theories that attempt to explain adult violence. The third party sources will involve journal articles and websites regarding the topic and various theories that will support the personality theory. One of the advantages of using secondary sources is the ease of access. Most of the information regarding the topic is available in the library and the internet. Due to the online availability, it is a technique that is often accessible. Furthermore, it is affordable or requires little costs to acquire. If the research were to be done using primary sources, it would have been expensive. It has allowed me to assemble the required information from various theories to come up with the required information.
The process is time saving because I only needed to access scholarly articles from the internet and credible websites. It allowed the primary data that was collected during the primary method stage to become more specific. Some of the gaps that existed regarding the topic were filled, and a deeper understanding of how the brain can be affected by negative childhood experiences was attained. The technique also allowed me to compare various data from different researchers. However, the technique may also face some challenges because the accuracy of the secondary sources may not be known. Furthermore, some of the data were largely self-controlled and may have been formulated to propose information that was controlled by the researcher. Some of the data was a bit incomplete and required further analysis. Nevertheless, the merits outweigh the demerits.
The Brain and Adult Violence Personality Theory
The theory of cognitive modes attempts to explain how individuals approach and interact with other people. The brain has the top and bottom parts. The top brain deals with the formulation and execution of plans such as making a decision on where to move a ball and then moving it. The bottom part is utilized in the classification and interpretation of the information that is coming from their environment. The two parts work together, but the degree of usage of each part varies according to an individual (Kosslyn and Miller, 2013). Some people may rely on both while some may rely on one part of the brain either the bottom or the top. Nevertheless, some individuals do not rely on either part. The four situations that have been mentioned define the fundamental cognitive modes. Every person has a distinct way of responding to a situation that they have encountered. Hence, people may also respond differently to adverse experiences during childhood.
The diagram above shows the main parts that will be discussed: parietal, occipital, frontal, and temporal lobes. The Sylvian fissure separates the top from the bottom part of the brain. Every lobe has specialized activities that will be grouped into two systems. The temporal and occipital lobes form the bottom part of the brain while the other two form the top part. The two systems have different functions that are aimed at the proper functioning of an individual’s body. The temporal lobe deals with visual recognition and allows us to recall a familiar object while the parietal lobe is used while registering spatial relations.
The frontal lobe is the part that is involved with implementing plans and the part that is mainly affected by neuroticism as discussed in the literature review. It affects our perception of our environment such as nature. The upper part of the frontal lobes helps an individual to understand outside information, and our emotions react to it. They play a major role in plan formulation, making decisions and directing attention to a particular goal (Kosslyn and Miller, 2013). Also, they help an individual to react to all the occurrences in the environment. I believe that the frontal lobe is the part of the brain that is affected by negative emotions. When a child experiences abuse or household disturbances, the frontal lobe may interpret the information as a threat or punishment. For the child to feel safe, they may decide to carry out similar acts during adulthood so that they can feel secure or n control. The actions may occur unknowingly. The frontal lobe may influence their perception towards various aspects of life.
On the other hand, the bottom part of the brain is used to organize the information that is received from the sense organs, compares them with what was perceived in the frontal lobe and the information that is in the brain’s memory. The upper part of the brain utilizes the information from its environment simultaneously with emotional reactions to decide the objectives it attempts to achieve (Kosslyn and Miller, 2013). Hence, it is very important to control the environment of the child to ensure that most of the experiences are positive. If most of the experiences are negative, it may affect their frontal lobe and the perceptions they have about various issues. For instance, if a child grows in a home that had household dysfunction or abuse, the frontal lobe may interpret the actions as quite normal, and they may attempt similar actions during adulthood.
The top and bottom sections of the brain function simultaneously. The upper brain prepares the bottom system for the classification of events and objects and allowing the systems to work effectively. The main point is that both sections of the brain interact in many ways but the extent that each part is used varies according to different individuals. Every brain system is used all the time while a person is alive. Hence, the differences in personalities emanate from the manner which the upper or bottom parts of the brain are used (Kosslyn and Miller, 2013). The differences in the utilization of the brain bring out the different personalities. Also, different situations may require different parts of the brain for analysis. For instance, when a person relies on the lower part of the brain but a little less on the upper part of the brain, the individual will have good observations with less sophisticated and detailed plans. The level which an individual utilizes various parts of the brain affects their behavior, thoughts, and feelings. The different ways that every part is utilized are the fundamental aspect of the theory of cognitive modes.
Adverse Childhood Experiences
I believe that the Adult Violence Personality Theory is very critical in the study of adult male violence. Various studies indicate that the rate of crime was higher in men who had experienced traumatic events in childhood in comparison to men who had not experienced traumatic events during childhood. In fact, men who experienced traumatic childhood events were 4 times more likely to exhibit violent activities during childhood. The results are highly similar to other problems in the society such as patient populations, for instance the mentally ill, obese, those engaging in substance abuse, those who engage in risky behaviors, and the people who contract diseases (Reavis et al., 2013). In most of these scenarios, the people had experienced certain traumatic events during their childhood. When it comes to criminal behavior, the personality theory holds because when there are accumulated traumatic experiences during childhood, their ability to have secure and reliable attachments with other people is reduced. The results were similar to children who grew up in environments that experienced high promiscuity or contraction of STDs. Their frontal lobes may interpret the situations as normal without the realization of the individual.
Furthermore, men who had experienced sexual abuse during childhood were about 4.5 times likely to commit violence in comparison to men who had grown up without experiencing sexual abuse. Also, boys who had witnessed their fathers abusing their mothers during childhood were more likely to abuse or threaten their partners during adulthood in comparison to men who did not have such a history. Intimate partner threatening, sexual promiscuity, and intimate partner violence are frequent in the group (Reavis et al., 2013). The results suggested that that the intense negative emotions that had been stimulated in the frontal lobe during the poor treatment of the people they had been attached to results to avoiding attachments and intimacy, or the expression of their emotions in their intimate relationships through violence. It is evident that the early childhood events can be damaging to the life of a person. It is my belief that adverse reactions affect the frontal lobe leading to attachment pathology or neurobiological dysregulation.
There is extensive literature that supports the personality theory. Experiences such as different parenting styles, abuse, and neglect are some of the core pathways in a child’s environment that affect the frontal lobe and other parts of the brain (Reavis et al., 2013). I believe that all interventions in correction facilities that do not address the adverse childhood experiences may become futile in encouraging them not to repeat similar offenses. For criminal tendencies to be treated, the events that occurred in the past must be dealt with so that the brain functions can be normalized.
Evaluation of the Adult Violence Personality Theory
The theory explains how an adult may “unconsciously” develop personality traits due to the experiences they may have had during childhood. It explains some of the factors that contribute to adult violence such as adverse childhood experiences. Every person has a distinct way of responding to a situation that they have encountered. Hence, people may also respond differently to adverse experiences during childhood. The emotions that a child experiences when they witness the adverse experiences may be bottled up and may begin to exhibit themselves in adulthood. I believe that the Adult Violence Personality Theory is a good theory that explains how adverse childhood experiences affect the brain and personalities of the victims.
Summary
The theory attempts to explain how adverse childhood experiences may cause violence during adulthood. The adverse effects involved either household dysfunction or abuse. The abuse could have been sexual or physical that was committed by family or other non-family members such as their classmates or friends. Household dysfunction is involved family drug or alcohol abuse, and witnessing family abuse. All the participants associated with one or more of 5 types of violence: weapon carrying, delinquency, dating violence, bullying, dating violence, and physical fighting. For instance, male children were about 4.5 times more likely to engage in dating violence during young adulthood if they were molested by one or more of their family members and about 26 times if it occurred through a non-family member. Various psychological scientists have discovered that the size of different parts of the brain can correspond to an individual’s personality. For instance, people who are conscientious often have a larger lateral prefrontal cortex, a section of a person’s brain that is involved when controlling and planning behavior. Neuroticism is related to a person’s ability to experience various negative emotions and is mainly associated with traits such as irritability, anxiety, and self-consciousness.
Also, emotional dysregulation, low self-esteem, and rumination are the primary traits in neuroticism. Negative experiences such as physical, emotional or sexual abuse may affect the structural system of the brain related to neuroticism making the child more susceptible to violence during adulthood. The theory of cognitive modes attempts to explain how individuals approach and interact with other people. Every person has a distinct way of responding to a situation that they have encountered. The upper part of the frontal lobes helps an individual to understand outside information, and our emotions react to it. They play an important role in plan formulation, making decisions and directing attention to a particular goal. Also, they help an individual to react to all the occurrences in the environment.
I believe that the frontal lobe is the part of the brain that is affected by negative emotions. When a child experiences abuse or household disturbances, the frontal lobe may interpret the information as a threat or punishment. The level which an individual utilizes various parts of the brain affects their behavior, thoughts, and feelings. The results suggested that that the intense negative emotions that had been stimulated in the frontal lobe during the poor treatment of the people they had been attached to results to avoiding attachments and intimacy, or the expression of their emotions in their intimate relationships through violence. Therefore, it is evident that negative childhood experiences affect certain parts of the brain. All corrective measures against crime may prove futile if they do not address the early events.
References
De Young et al. (2011). Testing Predictions from Personality Neuroscience PMC Accessed on November 3rd, 2016. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3049165/
Kosslyn, S. Miller W. (2013). How the Brain Affects Personality. The Atlantic Accessed on November 3 rd , 2016 http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/how-the-brain-creates-personality-a-new-theory/281287/
Reavis, J. et al. (2013). Adult Criminality and adverse childhood Experiences: Accessed on November 3 rd , 2016. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662280/
