Sunday, June 13, 2010

Is our Human Nature at Fault for our Murderous Behaviour?

           Is it possible that all the murder and mayhem in the world of man is just part of man's Nature or is it because we've chosen to champion certain aspects such as competition, ambition and individuality leaving co-operation and collectivism to gather dust. Following are a few of the most relevant origins of disruptive and unnecessary violent behaviour

          1/ The need to be right in our own eyes, see the book "Mistakes Were Made  but not by Me" by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. Aronson was motivated to study why people can be so cruel, after being continually picked on and persecuted as a child and in school, his only crime was that he was of the Jewish faith. He was chosen by his peers as the most eminent Psychologists of the twentieth century,he is known internationally for his scientific research.

          Carol Tavris is a social psychologist, writer and  popular lecturer, author of several books, articles, book revues and editorials. Following is from the website... mistakesweremadebutnotbyme.com
          "At some point we all make a bad decision,do something that harms another person, or cling to an outdated belief. When we do, we strive to reduce the "cognitive dissonance" that results from feeling that we, who are smart, moral and right just did something that is dumb,, immoral or wrong. Whether the consequences are trivial or tragic, some people find it impossible, to say "I made a terrible mistake". The higher the stakes, - emotional, financial or moral -the greater that difficulty.
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          Self-justification the hard wired mechanism that binds us to the possibility that we were wrong has benefits; it lets us sleep at night and keeps from torturing ourselves with regrets. But it also blocks our ability to see our faults and errors.It legitimizes prejudice and corruption, distorts memory,and generates anger and rifts. It can keep prosecutors from admitting they put a innocent person in prison and correcting that injustice and can keep politicians from changing disastrous policies that can cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives. In our private lives, it can be the death of love".
          We can only add that it encourages hypocrisy, self righteous behaviour and rationalization, in order to maintain a positive self-image. But when someone else makes a mistake we waste no time in condemning  him/her. Thus highlighting our love of scapegoating others.

2/ "Choosing helps us create our lives, we make choices and in turn are made by them". Quote from Social Psychologist Sheena Iyengar. " Once babies have mastered saying dada or mama, their next words are often ones of choice, yes, no and more.  If we study to become a lawyer, all that we study becomes to some extent part of our software - of the mind - and colours our actions and reactions  to experience. So, much of our experience of reality, is pre-determined by the particular choices we've made and continue to make
 as we move up and down the snakes and ladders.