b'8 GLOBAL UNION OF SCIENTISTS FOR PEACE SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS TO VIOLENCE AND GLOBAL CONFLICT 9THE BRAIN-BASED1BEHAVIOR IS APPROACH TO PEACELINKED TO BRAIN Violent behavior is rooted in the brain. The most directandFUNCTIONINGultimately onlyway to transform violent and criminal behavior is to restore balanced brain functioning. The Brain-Based Approach to Peace*How we perceive, and respond to, restores balanced neurological functioning, and thereby promotesthe environment is governed by the brain:balanced, harmonious behavior on the individual and societal scale. Whether a situation is seen as threatening or safe depends on the degreeThe Brain-Based Approach to Peace: At a Glance of excitation of the amygdala, or fear center.The ability to control impulsive, violent behavior depends on the1Behavior is directly linked to brain functioning. development of the prefrontal cortexthe higher brainwhich governs higher executive functioning, such as impulse control, judgment, 2Stress negatively impacts the brain. It shuts down the prefrontal cortex (the higher brain) anddecision-making, and moral reasoning. overstimulates the amygdala (fear center), causing fear-driven, aggressive, violent, antisocial behavior.3Acute stress on a societal scale similarly impacts the brain and behavior of everyone in society,fueling crime, social violence, and conflict.PREFRONTAL4Extensive research shows that a simple, easy-to-learn, evidence-based meditation practice, theCORTEX Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, markedly reduces individual stress and its deleterious effects on brain and behavior. AMYGDALA5Twenty-three published studies have also shown that TM practiceand particularly group TMpracticeby a significant subportion of a population, or by embedded groups within a population, effectively defuses acute societal stress and markedly reduces associated violence and social conflict, including war and terrorism.The Global Union of Scientists for Peace is dynamically implementing this Brain-Based Approach to Peace on a national, regional, and global scale, and is conducting large-scale research on its global effectstogether with the deep physical, neurophysiological, and sociological mechanisms that underlie these effects.*This Brain-Based Approach to Peace is also referenced elsewhere in the scientific literature as the Consciousness-Based approach, or as the unified field-based approachfor reasons outlined later in this section.'