ArticleSocial neuroscience2016
Looking for reward in all the wrong places: dopamine receptor gene polymorphisms indirectly affect aggression through sensation-seeking.
Article in Social neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dopaminergic Genetic Variation in Young Adolescents: Associations with Sensation-Seeking.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2021Pooled it
- The Cognitive-Affective Social Processing and Emotion Regulation (CASPER) model.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Toxoplasma gondii, suicidal behaviour and suicide risk factors in US Veterans enrolled in mental health treatment.Folia parasitologica · 2025Article
- Stress, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, and aggression.Metabolic brain disease · 2024Review
- Theorizing the Role of Dopaminergic Polymorphic Risk Alleles with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), Violent/Aggressive Behavior and Addiction: Justification of Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (GARS) Testing.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Once bitten, twice shy: Aggressive and defeated pigs begin agonistic encounters with more negative emotions.Applied animal behaviour science · 2021Article
- Alcohol, Aggression, and Violence: From Public Health to Neuroscience.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Review
- Review
- Revenge is sweet: Investigation of the effects of Approach-Motivated anger on the RewP in the motivated anger delay (MAD) paradigm.Human brain mapping · 2020Article
- The Brain Emotional Systems in Addictions: From Attachment to Dominance/Submission Systems.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2020Article
- Elucidating the relationships between shame, anger, and self-destructive behaviors: The role of aversive responses to emotions.Journal of contextual behavioral science · 2019Article
- Nucleus Accumbens Drd1-Expressing Neurons Control Aggression Self-Administration and Aggression Seeking in Mice.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2019Article
- Moderation of the relationship between Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and trait impulsivity in younger men by the phenylalanine-tyrosine ratio.Psychiatry research · 2018Article
- An emerging role for the lateral habenula in aggressive behavior.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2017Review
- Reciprocal moderation byPteridines · 2016Article
- "Weeding out" violence? Translational perspectives on the neuropsychobiological links between cannabis and aggression.Aggression and violent behaviorArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Individuals with genotypes that code for reduced dopaminergic brain activity often exhibit a predisposition toward aggression. However, it remains largely unknown how dopaminergic genotypes may increase aggression. Lower-functioning dopamine systems motivate individuals to seek reward from external sources such as illicit drugs and other risky experiences. Based on emerging evidence that aggression is a rewarding experience, we predicted that the effect of lower-functioning dopaminergic functioning on aggression would be mediated by tendencies to seek the environment for rewards. Caucasian female and male undergraduates (N = 277) were genotyped for five polymorphisms of the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene; they reported their previous history of aggression and their dispositional reward-seeking. Lower-functioning DRD2 profiles were associated with greater sensation-seeking, which then predicted greater aggression. Our findings suggest that lower-functioning dopaminergic activity puts individuals at risk for violence because it motivates them to experience aggression's hedonically rewarding qualities.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.