- Hey, friends.
Welcome back to another video.
Have you ever wondered, are humans inherently good or evil?
Are we born altruistic saints
who are temporarily corrupted by bad influences
or are we born selfish sinners who need taming by society?
The debate over human nature
is probably as old as humanity itself.
What does psychology say about this question?
Here are some studies that shed light
on whether humans are inherently good or evil.
Let's begin.
We hurt others when ordered to,
but we'd rather hurt ourselves instead.
Imagine this,
an experimenter tells you that you're a teacher
giving a memory test to another participant
who is a learner.
Every time the learner gets an answer wrong,
you have to give them an electric shock
of increasing voltage, even up to a fatal level.
How much would you hurt the other person?
Yale University psychologist, Stanley Milgram,
tried this experiment to test obedience to authority,
where the learner was really an actor
pretending to scream in pain and plead from mercy.
He was shocked, pun intended,
to find that 65% of participants went all the way
to a fatal voltage when ordered to.
Milgram's classic study has been often cited as proof
that humans are quite ready to hurt others.
However, Milgram's study has been questioned
by psychologists who have done their own investigations
and found other results.
In a 2014 study by University College London,
participants got cash rewards
for increasing the electric shock,
either for themselves or for the other participant.
The result were more positive than Milgram's original study.
As participants were much more willing
to shock themselves for extra money than shock the stranger,
suggesting that we still place a large value
on the wellbeing of others.
Point two, children enjoy the misfortunes of others,
but they also sympathize with them.
If you wanna see the natural state of humanity,
look at young children.
They're all innocent little angels
uncorrupted by society, right?
Well, you may wanna think again.
A study published
in the "British Journal of Developmental Psychology"
showed that even four-year-olds experience schadenfreude,
the pleasure of witnessing the misfortunes of others.
Children judged stories of characters falling out of trees
or into muddy puddles to be entertaining and funny.
Especially if the children thought
the characters deserved it.
A similar study published in "Nature Human Behavior"
showed that preschoolers would rather pay to watch
antisocial puppets being hit,
than spend the money on stickers.
Sadly, psychology has demonstrated
that even from a young age,
humans possess an innate sense of ruthlessness
and punishment.
However, psychology has also found
a natural sense of sympathy in young children.
In the previous study, the children judging the stories
may have felt pleasure
about the bad characters experiencing misfortunes,
but they also felt sorry for them at the same time.
Even when it comes to sharing,
young children go out of their way to achieve justice,
and address misfortunes.
In one study published
in the "Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,"
paired two-year-olds were given a set of marbles
to play with.
In most cases, the toddlers spontaneously divided
the marbles between themselves.
In another version,
the toddlers were each assigned unequal numbers of marbles.
In a third of the trials,
the more fortunate toddler gave marbles
to the less fortunate toddler without prompting,
showing we have the built-in capacity
to respond to misfortunes.
Case three.
We blame other people for their suffering,
but we help them anyway.
Do you believe that everyone gets what they deserve?
We commonly hear that what goes around comes around,
or that successful people have worked hard
to get where they are.
Psychology has shown that we tend to believe in a just world
where justice generally prevails,
and people are eventually compensated
for fortunes and misfortunes.
But this also means that we're prone to thinking
that the unfortunate must have done something
to deserve their fate.
When study participants are asked
to explain why there are poor people, rape victims,
aids patients, cancer patients, quadriplegics,
and traffic accident survivors,
they twist facts or invent reasons
that people cause their misfortunes themselves,
rather than just being victims.
Research suggests that we cling to this belief
as a coping mechanism, even at the expense of others.
However, research also says we are predisposed to trust
and help other people by default.
In a lab experiment, participants were given some money,
and they could choose how much to keep in a private fund,
or contribute to a common fund
that was distributed among other participants.
Even though the participants were all anonymous,
and the ideal strategy is to distrust everyone else,
and keep everything yourself,
people consistently put most of their money
into the common fund.
The authors call this instinct.
Strong reciprocity,
where we help people despite not knowing them,
and not expecting anything in return.
So, there you have it.
Studies show humans are both evil and good.
Sorry, there are no straightforward answers in psychology.
What do you think?
Let us know in the comments below
and don't forget to like and share this article
if you think it'll help someone else.
The studies and references used
are listed in the description below.
Until next time, take care and thanks for watching.