WHILE AGGRESSION IS AN IDENTIFIABLE PART OF THE BEHAVIORAL REPERTOIRE OF MANY SPECIES, INCLUDING MAN, CRUELTY SEEMS PECULIAR TO THE HUMAN SPECIES. THE CRUEL BEHAVIOR OF HUMAN BEINGS IS TOO COMMON TO BE EXPLAINED SOLELY IN TERMS OF PSYCHIATRIC ABNORMALITY OR OF SPECIAL SOCIAL CONDITIONS. VIOLENT AND CRUEL BEHAVIOR IS A POTENTIAL IN NORMAL PEOPLE. CAUSES OF ACTS COMMITTED BY AGGRESSIVE PSYCHOPATHS ARE MULTIPLE. SOME SUFFER FROM GENETIC ABNORMALITIES. OTHERS EXHIBIT WHAT APPEARS TO BE A DELAYED MATURATION OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, AS EVIDENCED BY THE PERSISTENCE OF ELECTRORHYTHMS CHARACTERISTIC OF CHILDHOOD IN THE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM. MANY PSYCHOPATHS SHOW A FAILURE OF SOCIALIZATION IN THAT THEY HAVE NEVER FORMED TIES OF MUTUAL REGARD WITH OTHERS AND THUS LIVE IN A WORLD WHICH THEY ASSUME TO BE INDIFFERENT OR HOSTILE. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE PSYCHOPATH'S LACK OF CONTROL OVER IMMEDIATE IMPULSE MAY BE UNDERSTOOD IN PHYSIOLOGICAL TERMS. OBEDIENCE INVOLVING ACTS OF VIOLENCE AND CRUELTY BY PSYCHOPATHS, HOWEVER, DOES NOT EXPLAIN THE CRUELTY OF THOSE WHO GIVE ORDERS. THE USE OF TORTURE TO EXTRACT INFORMATION AND TO CONTROL POLITICAL DISSENT BY CREATING AN ATMOSPHERE OF TERROR APPEARS TO BE INCREASING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. DISTANCE IS CONDUCIVE TO CRUELTY, WHETHER DISTANCE IS MEASURED IN PHYSICAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL TERMS. MOST TERRORIST ACTS, SUCH AS THE PLANTING OF BOMBS, RESULT IN HARM NOT WITNESSED BY THE TERRORIST. PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE REFERS TO THE HUMAN TENDENCY TO TREAT OTHER HUMAN BEINGS AS LESS THAN HUMAN. CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES MAY INFLUENCE PEOPLE TO COMMIT ACTS OF CRUELTY IN ADULTHOOD. SADISM AND PARANOIA ORIENTATIONS ARE POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS OF CRUELTY AND NEED TO BE STUDIED IN DEPTH. THERE IS AN INTIMATE RELATION BETWEEN FEELINGS OF HELPLESSNESS AND THE PROPENSITY TO BEHAVE VIOLENTLY. VIOLENCE IS BOTH A RESPONSE TO THREAT AND A WAY OF REESTABLISHING CONFIDENCE IN ONE OWN'S POWER. TERRORISM APPEARS TO BE CONNECTED WITH FEELINGS OF HELPLESSNESS IN THAT IT TENDS TO BE INITIATED BY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THAT THEY HAVE NO POWER TO ALTER EVENTS IN ANY OTHER WAY. NOTES ARE INCLUDED. (DEP)