1. Define affiliation (Slide 3)

   • Described as a person’s need to feel like they belong to a  “social” group

   • A sense of involvement   

2. How and why do humans affiliate? (Slide 5)

   • Common Interests

   • Friendships 

   • Desire to be part of a social group. 

   • Interest in intimacy 

   • Stress may be a “trigger” to affiliation 

• Encourages individuals to responding to the same stressor to come together  find security in one another 

• Social connectivity is necessary for survival

3. How does affiliation impact teens? (Slide 6)

   • Environmental and biological changes lead to new social encounters 

   • Heightened awareness and interest in people 

   • Recognition of facial expressions and emotions

   • Begin to evaluate other people 

4. What is oxytocin? (Slide 8 – answers are in narrator’s words)

   • Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter

   • Produced in the hypothalamus

   • Important for affiliative behaviors (social memory and attachment) and aggressive behaviors

5. Why is oxytocin critical to human survival? (Slide 9)

   • Oxytocin and its receptors appear to hold the leading position as an important brain compound in building trust, which is necessary in developing emotional  relationships, a process also referred to as social bonding 

   • Social bonding is essential to species survival since it favors reproduction, protection against predators and environmental changes and furthers brain development.

   • Recent literature states that oxytocin can also be involved in triggering aggression (it is likely involved in identifying friend. not a friend) 

6. What influences who you affiliate with? (Slide 10)

• facial expressions 

• Body posture

• Person’s movement

• Perception of social signals 

• We associate facial structure and properties of faces as a reliable indicator of personal identity 

• Facial expressions have been one of the most commonly used stimuli to identify social interactions  

7. How does the teenage brain interpretation connect with perception and judgment? (Slide 12)

   • The amygdala receives visual information and stores needed information to process the perception 

   • Includes 

     • social judgements: processing the motivational properties of the stimuli 

     • Trust: does this person seem trustable based on facial recognition, body posture and movement 

     • Attractiveness: based on the specific properties of a person’s face

8. (Slide 13) Studies have shown that teens are not as good as adults at interpreting the emotional meaning of facial expressions. Therefore, making sound social judgments or knowing who to trust will mature in time and with more experience.

AGGRESSION

9. Both affiliation and agression use the triad. (Slide 14)

10. What is the difference between aggression and violence? (Slide 15)

    • Aggression 

      • A protective mechanism for self or others 

    • Violence 

      • The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or person a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.

11. Explaining Aggression (Slide 16)

    • Aggression is a normal behavior  

    • Testosterone influences the brain to increase aggression after puberty  

    • Female aggression is not well understood except maternal protection of young 

    • It can be worsened by 

      • Damage to regions of the brain 

      • Disruption in neurochemistry 

12. No, Not All Aggression is Bad (Slide 18)

If a person protects themselves from a burglar or an intruder or a parent protects a child from a threat, the aggression is viewed in a positive light. In these cases:

• Aggression is adaptive, protective, and helpful

• Aggression can be used to protect

13. Where does aggression start? (Slide 19)

• Amygdala interprets as a threat (in our example it was the angry dog)

• The amygdala signals both the hypothalamus (which coordinates aggressive behavior) and the cortex, which evaluates and prioritizes the information it is receiving from the hypothalamus and amygdala.

• The amygdala and its connection to the hypothalamus triggers both emotional and physiological responses to threat which include heart rate changes, pupil dilation and changes in the gastrointestinal system.

14. Don’t make a permanent decision from a temporary emotion” (Slide 20) What are the three factors that influence teen risk of aggressive behavior? 

    • Teens are not as good as adults at interpreting the emotional meaning of facial expressions  

    • Lack of maturity in the ability to make sound decisions and solve problems 

    • Onset of aggression with pubertal  development

15. The Teen Brain Can Be Regulated (Slide 21)

• Self-regulation is essential to healthy emotional development

• Key factor in preventing/controlling  aggression and anti-social behaviors

• Teen capacity to create and maintain healthy emotional relationships is increasing

• Teen stress response systems are developing

16. Feelings, Feelings, Feelings (Slide 22)

    • Feeling angry and having a wide range of emotions is normal from time to time

• how those emotions are expressed is important

• many factors can cause aggression to escalate

17. What can you do if you’re experiencing or witnessing violence? (Slide 23)

    • Do not ignore the issues, they can escalate to violence or abuse 

    • If you think you are in a dangerous situation, seek help immediately 

    • Speak with a trusted adult 

    • Contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TEXT the word “START” to 88788 or visit the website at www.thehotline.org 

18. Summary (Slide 24)

    • Across species, oxytocin is important in regulating the formation of social memories, as well as displays of affiliative and aggressive behaviors

    • Humans are made to affiliate

    • The brain controls with whom we affiliate and why

    • Teen brain development impacts affiliation and aggression

    • Not all aggression is bad; in many cases it is a built-in protective mechanism in your brain

    • Violence is very different than aggression and can quickly become a serious threat to someone’s life

Avoiding violent situations (flight) and reporting violence is an important step to personal safety and overall health