What drives people to do terrible things? (sociopath, how to, love)

[mrstewart]

Do you think people are born bad and eventually crack and do terrible things or do you think everyone is capable of tapping into a sinister side?

[Tia 914]

I believe people are born essentially neutral, but with an inclination to be/do good...
& that it's lack of proper socialization and/or bad influences that can aim a person in the wrong direction.

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by mrstewart

Do you think people are born bad and eventually crack and do terrible things or do you think everyone is capable of tapping into a sinister side?

I've laid awake at night and thought about this many,many,many times.

It kinda of goes in line with do you think that humanity can be truly evil.

Don't know.

Not sure, can humanity be evil, you bet. Are we inherently evil, not so sure about that.

[sueprnova]

we are not inherently evil...but people do some evil things...there was that kid this week who decapitated his little sister...
I mean...wtf????

[Raggy dee Ann]

Well I wonder about people like Jeffery Dahmer who began killing animals as a child. Was he born evil?

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

I have never killed anyone or animals or set fires or that kind of thing but I do know that I am NOT always a nice person. There have been times that in order to hide my panic attacks I have used anger to distract. In my family if you show weakness, its all over. You show anger to fend them off. Unfortunately innocent people get caught in the rage sometimes.

NOW, I am learning to deal with things in a more reasonable way and the anger is ebbing away.

My answer is while I believe I am responsible for my actions regardless of the reason, you never know what is going on inside a person.

[temptation001]

People who do truly evil acts do so because of their intense self hatred and hatred for the world in general who makes things harder for them.

But the root of all troubles in this world is ignorance. If people knew how to get what they wanted , and how to heal any disease and make themselves lovable to the one they love, they would all be happy and no one would want to be evil.

[shania]

I believe that a lot of our personality traits/behavior may be genetic. I didn't used to believe this; used to think that nurture would always win out over nature. But have seen firsthand how challenging raising an adopted child can be for my sister, and have a friend who had three children, two of which are just great, but the third has been nothing but trouble since he was small, even exhibiting sociopathic behavior. They all were raised in the same loving home so it's not a question of what type of environment they were raised in. I don't really believe people are inherently evil, but I do believe some people may be inherently mentally sick, or predisposed to certain types of mental/social problems. Alcoholism is thought to be an illness that can run in families; I wouldn't be surprised if other traits, good and bad, are also. That said, I do think that if recognized early and addressed early on, a lot of good can be done for most kids.

[Trimac20]

Philosophers, Theologians, Biologists, Psychologists etc. have debated this point over and over again...it's a question that just leads to more questions instead of answers.

[temptation001]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Philosophers, Theologians, Biologists, Psychologists etc. have debated this point over and over again...it's a question that just leads to more questions instead of answers.

Yup.