--- title: "Scientists Scanned Brains of Bullies and Found Something Grim" description: "An international team of neuroscientists scanned the brains of lifelong bullies and found that bullies' brains appear to be smaller than other brains." date: "2020-02-19" modified: "2020-02-19" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc.md" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-scanned-bullies-brains" categories: - "Brain" - "Health & Medicine" - "Neuroscience and Brain" tags: - "antisocial behavior" - "brain scans" - "bullying" --- # Scientists Scanned Brains of Bullies and Found Something Grim ![An international team of neuroscientists scanned the brains of lifelong bullies and found that bullies' brains appear to be smaller than other brains.]() *\Image: Image via Pexels/Victor Tangermann\* 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. To wit, bullies' cortexes were substantially thinner — and their entire brains had less surface area — than the non-bully brains scanned by the scientists. *Inverse*'s [concise summary](): bullies "have smaller brains." A key exception: The brains of people who exhibited anti-social behavior as teenagers but not as adults showed no such abnormalities. That's good news for reformed bullies, but bad news for the lifers. "Most people who exhibit antisocial behaviour primarily do so only in adolescence, likely as a result of navigating socially difficult years, and these individuals do not display structural brain differences," Carlisi said. "It is also these individuals who are generally capable of reform and go on to become valuable members of society." What remains hazy is the question of causation — are the brains of bullies small *because* they're bullies, or do they become bullies *because of their small brains*? ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() ## More - [Scientists Scanned the Brains of Authoritarians and Found Something Weird]() - [Scientists Scanned the Brains of Hardcore Gooners and Found Something Ominous]() - [Scientists Find Something Strange in Brain Scans of Kids Hooked on Social Media]() - [Devious Scientists Scan People’s Brains While They Watch Video of Themselves Singing Karaoke]() - [Evidence Indicates That Universal Basic Income Improves Human Health]() - [Mitch McConnell’s Doctor Says His Brain Scans Are Clear]() - [This Deranged Plan to Transplant a Human Head From One Body to Another Might Be the Dumbest Thing We’ve Ever Seen]() - [Neuralink Jamming Wires Deeper Into Second Patient’s Brain]()