Catecholamines and aggression in animals

Abstract

This paper assesses the evidence for the role of catecholamines in the aggressive behaviour of animals. The effects of manipulating dopamine and noradrenaline function, either alone or in combination, are considered with respect to two categories of aggression, predatory and affective. Affective aggression is further subdivided into shock-induced defensive fighting, isolation-induced aggression and irritable aggression. The results indicate that catecholamines may not have a specific role in aggressive behaviour. Rather, they may act more to excite or inhibit general behavioural systems, although certain treatments do have a specific influence on aggressive behaviour. The review also highlights certain problems concerning the psychopharmacology of aggression; different species may make varying responses to the same treatment, whilst treatments exerting a similar pharmacological action may result in diverse behavioural effects.