The April 10, 2009 edition of Science (available online only to subscribers) reports that Naltrexone (a drug used for treating addictions) has been dramatically successful in treating compulsive shoplifting.    The relevant study was published  in the April 2009 edition of Biological Psychiatry.

Sounds like yet more evidence that doing what’s “right” is not simply a matter of morality?  God, meet Naltrexone . . . This is not to excuse all shop-lifters, but it should make the law-and-order crowd stop to think more seriously about their simplistic views of how to deal with “criminals.” Makes me wonder how many other sorts of “criminals” are normal folks struggling with low-level biological issues . . .

Here are more examples of low-level processes that drive behavior. At TED, cognitive researcher Nancy Etcoff spells out (starting about 14:00 mark) three lower level systems that underlie reproduction: Lust (sex hormone driven), romantic attraction (dopamine driven) and attachment (oxytocin driven). Etcoff also cites psychologist John Gottman for a good strategy for a happy marriage: make sure that the spouses say at least five positive things for each negative thing. That’s how powerful and socially dysfunctional it is to utter negative things.