Do you think even the most evil of people could have been good had they grown up in a good caring family? (mentally, girlfriend)
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Research shows the influence of parenting up to the age of 5, and then less so from 5-7, is enormous. Your brain, and more importantly your neuronal and synaptic connections & neurotransmitter and transporter expression levels, are still growing and forming (and some are unforming) during this time period. The grooves and paths that your brain forms are then very hard to subsequently change during the rest of your life. It takes years of therapy of opposing one path and using a new pathway (which initially feels "fake" to the person) to make changes. And changing genetic expression/epigenetic expression at that point is basically not possible anyway. That initial trajectory you set is hugely influential. This is overlaid on top of genetic predispositions to A, B and C of course, but genetics, in regard to character, is not controlling... until it is. Parenting (and I don't mean the mother or father necessarily, but whoever the developing brain spends a huge amount of time with in those years) cannot be overstated. The malleable brain at that point will take a shape, and it most certainly can be screwed up to take the wrong shape, societally speaking.
Of course character can change from brain injury, chemotherapy which changes brain function, drugs which alter brain function etc. People who have been the most caring sweet person their whole lives can become completely someone else through permanent drug-altered shift in chemistry, and people can become very different - entirely different in fact with a complete discontinuity in consciousnesness - after the brain is physically injured. While we don't understand the link between consciousness and the brain (as of yet - and possibly never will alone since the very tool we are using to try to understand it is the tool itself, can n understand n, or does it need n+1?). It would certainly be possible, even if not ethical, to change people's character by manipulation of gene expression or epigenetic expression. That's what's occurring in the growing brain anyway.
Most of what one might label as "evil" or just a bad apple is not inevitable, but is unfortunate.
when it comes to the most evil people to have existed such as Vlad the Impaler, Hitler, Stalin, Elizabeth Bathory, Mao, Pol Pot etc. as horribly unspeakably evil as they all were, do you think had all these people been born into caring, loving, nurturing homes they would have had a chance at being good people?
most world leaders ( inc the ones we worship ) as great heroes were cold blooded murderers.They just find others to blame for their decisions and are clever enough to hide the evidence.For example ( and not trying to be too political here) but check out the role of Churchill in the fire bombing of germany and Bengal famine in 1943.Totally changed my opinion of him.
Research shows the influence of parenting up to the age of 5, and then less so from 5-7, is enormous. Your brain, and more importantly your neuronal and synaptic connections & neurotransmitter and transporter expression levels, are still growing and forming (and some are unforming) during this time period. The grooves and paths that your brain forms are then very hard to subsequently change during the rest of your life. It takes years of therapy of opposing one path and using a new pathway (which initially feels "fake" to the person) to make changes. And changing genetic expression/epigenetic expression at that point is basically not possible anyway. That initial trajectory you set is hugely influential. This is overlaid on top of genetic predispositions to A, B and C of course, but genetics, in regard to character, is not controlling... until it is. Parenting (and I don't mean the mother or father necessarily, but whoever the developing brain spends a huge amount of time with in those years) cannot be overstated. The malleable brain at that point will take a shape, and it most certainly can be screwed up to take the wrong shape, societally speaking.
Of course character can change from brain injury, chemotherapy which changes brain function, drugs which alter brain function etc. People who have been the most caring sweet person their whole lives can become completely someone else through permanent drug-altered shift in chemistry, and people can become very different - entirely different in fact with a complete discontinuity in consciousnesness - after the brain is physically injured. While we don't understand the link between consciousness and the brain (as of yet - and possibly never will alone since the very tool we are using to try to understand it is the tool itself, can n understand n, or does it need n+1?). It would certainly be possible, even if not ethical, to change people's character by manipulation of gene expression or epigenetic expression. That's what's occurring in the growing brain anyway.
Most of what one might label as "evil" or just a bad apple is not inevitable, but is unfortunate.
Fantastic, very articulate comment! Thanks for taking the time to write it.
Question about your last sentence - I understand that the brain may not form properly in the early years for the reasons you mention. But, could a baby be born of one or both parents who had malformed brains that were never "healed" or corrected and, therefore, that baby is not starting with a 'clean slate' to begin with?
And if that child also didn't get adequate nurture early on, it may have a coupling effect to an already below par brain? Thanks.
There's lots of debate regarding nature vs. nurture so I am curious, when it comes to the most evil people to have existed such as Vlad the Impaler, Hitler, Stalin, Elizabeth Bathory, Mao, Pol Pot etc. as horribly unspeakably evil as they all were, do you think had all these people been born into caring, loving, nurturing homes they would have had a chance at being good people?
Jeez, reading the title I thought you are talking about Trump or Sessions. After all Hitler didn;t start killing the jews he incarcerated on day 1.
First off, lets eliminate political leaders. They are egotistical, power-hungry opportunists.
Their statues are built, torn down, and built again.
Evil is much more personal, and takes pleasure in the act of harming others. Evil is natural, untutored, uncommon, without empathy, and dies as it was born.
Bad is weak willed, practiced, common, and capable of change if desired.
Fortunately there are many more bad people than evil ones.
I agree about the political leaders. Their motivations lie in some sense of nationality, religion and/or doing what's best for their nation and people.
I don't agree that evil is uncommon. It most certainly is not. Maybe evil deeds are fewer than evil thoughts, but some level of evil lurks in the minds of all humans. Every human is part bad/evil and part good. How we classify people is purely subjective, imho.
There's lots of debate regarding nature vs. nurture so I am curious, when it comes to the most evil people to have existed such as Vlad the Impaler, Hitler, Stalin, Elizabeth Bathory, Mao, Pol Pot etc. as horribly unspeakably evil as they all were, do you think had all these people been born into caring, loving, nurturing homes they would have had a chance at being good people?
No. Because most people who grow up in less than perfect homes (which is really most of us) don't turn into monsters. Even people who suffered terrible abuse/neglect/adverse circumstances don't all turn into terrible human beings. As for "deeds are evil, people aren't", I completely disagree. Our deeds are a reflection of who we are, unless there is underlying major mental illness or another medical cause. And I also dislike that so many try to blame evil deeds on the person's parents or circumstances, instead of the fact that some people are just born bad/evil.
DNA & environment & one's individual reaction to both. Hard to know which weighs in more heavily. Eternal question probably unanswerable. I think psychology/science can only answer so much. Maybe there's an element not researchable in why one turns out the way they do?
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