University of Minnesota, Twin Cities School of Social Work Jane F. Gilgun, Ph.D., LICSW jgilgun@umn.

edu February 4, 2004 A Four-Factor Model for Responding to Anti-Social Behaviors Resilience Theory Foster the use of protective processes in coping with, adapting to, and over coming risks and adversities. A major protective factor is emotional expressiveness. A major risk is cultural themes and practices that promote aggression and control. Men as a group appear to be at higher risk for emotional distancing than women. This distancing in turn makes it more likely they will adopt antisocial behaviors because they have distanced themselves from the negative consequences of these behaviors for others and for themselves. Schema Theory Internal working models of self, others, and how the world works can be classified as leading to pro-social, anti-social, self-destructive, and inappropriate behaviors. Internal working models also are called schemas, scripts, inner representations, and internal representations. These schemas most often are activated automatically, in ways that by-pass conscious thought. When schemas lead to anti-social, self-destructive, or inappropriate behaviors, the task of intervention is foster clients capacities to become mindful of their otherwise automatic internal working models. In this way, they can more consciously choose how to behave. This can be an extremely difficult task. Individuals must really want to change their behaviors, must be willing to endure the emotional challenges of such change, and individuals who are part of their families and communities also must be emotionally available at least part of the time. Such change can take a long time and thus requires persistence and courage. In treatment, the task is to change schemas. This is called accommodation, which means the actions persons have taken have changed the schemas. When clients simply comply with treatment, they may have assimilated the teachings of treatment, but they have not changed their schemas. Their risk level has not changed. Gender Studies Many schemas are associated with being female and male. Males are more at-risk for antisocial behaviors because there are many more cultural themes and practices that glamorize and reward physical aggression in males, including sexual aggression, and that hang a mans self-worth on having these attributes. Socialization practices put men at high risk for emotional inexpressiveness, which in turn, increases the likelihood that they will at increased risk to act out aggressive cultural themes and practices and believe them to be the mark of a real man. Men so socialized are less like to experience automatic prosocial schemas that led them away from harmful acts.

Brain Science There are neural circuits that are triggered automatically. These automatic responses can be pro-social, anti-social, or self-destructive. These are low road circuits. There are also high road neural circuits. These circuits travel through the neural cortex and to highly differentiated memory centers deep in the brain. The goal of treatment is to increase the high road circuits so that more behaviors, especially those that are anti-social, can be reflected upon and then diverted into pro-social behaviors. Male brains more than female brains are affected by stress in ways that put them at higher risk for low road responses. Individuals know that brain circuits may have changed when automatic activation of schemas leads to prosocial responses. Changes in brain circuitry reflect and lead to the notion of accommodation I mentioned under schema theory.