Is It Human Nature to be Cruel?

Is it part of the human nature to be cruel or are other forces at work? This is a question that has been lingering among several psychological experts but no conclusive answer has been found. In this regard, some acts of sheer inhumanity are justified by the fact that people have a tendency to hurt others without any particular reason. On the other hand, the opponents of cruelty in human nature believe that behavior is highly influenced by the social environment. Based on the readings provided, innate cruelty by people could be increased by external forces such as the adherence to authorities, concerns for personal safety, diffusion of responsibility, and the value of social etiquette. In his article, Milgram conducted some tests to establish the factors that affect the compassionate and ability of people to help others in times of disasters. Darley and Latane have also attempted to explain the processes involved during an incident, which may affect people's nature to be cruel. Accordingly, although human beings tend to be innately cruel, the external environment is responsible for elaborating the inhuman acts.

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The inhuman nature of human beings can be traced from the evolution of the species where people used to live in informal groups, according to the Darwinian Theory, the human species were initially hunters and gatherers and would work in groups. Everyone was skeptical and suspicious of members from other groups or tribes, and would often be killed on site. Consequently, the habit has grown to an extent that human beings tend to alienate people who are not close to them. It is for this reason that Darley and Latane's experiments revealed that in addition to the cruelty perpetrated by the woman's killer, people were not willing to help her since she was not a member of their family. Before dwelling on the behavior of the neighbors, the robber appears to have derived joy from causing suffering and killing the woman. "The man, later identified as Winston Moseley, screwed a knife deep into her back, and then, when she turned to face him, deep into her gut as well and there was blood." These acts show the level of cruelty that human can turn into against their fellow beings. Similarly, in history, based on Nazism ideology, the Germans were willing to kill all the Jews since they viewed them as outcastes. These experiences are a proof that some human beings are naturally excited at the suffering of others, and may do so without any influence.

Arguments have been raised regarding some factors that affect the cruelty of human beings. While some experts argue that it is an innate attribute, some people do terrible things as a result of a compelling reason. Milgram indicates that submission to authorities may cause one to do an act that is terrible to another. In his article, he asserts that "obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to." For instance, in his experiment involving a learner and a teacher, every wrong answer from the learner would attract a shock. Consequently, he thought that the innate humanity would cause the teacher to limit the amount of volts to 50. However, he was shocked that most of the participants would go all the way to the danger zone. Therefore, even though the cruel nature is innate, it has been aroused by the instructions given by an authority. Milgram indicates that "The essence of obedience is that a person comes to view himself as the instrument for carrying out other person's wishes, and he therefore no longer regards himself as responsible for his actions"(108). Therefore, people are willing to go against their values on what is wrong or right to appease the authorities. In this case, some inhuman acts perpetrated across the world can be justified by adhering to the administrative authorities.

According to psychological experts, the desire to do terrible things to other people is a result of aggression and sexual desires, with a biological bases and innate nature. Therefore, it is the role of parents and caregivers to teach children from young age on how to depress such feelings. Therefore, it is within the power of the same human beings to control the cruelty nature and choose if to make it elaborate. In this regard, self-psychology is responsible for how a person behaves towards another person. In addition, beyond the cruelty nature among the people, there lays profound emptiness in which the perpetrators of heinous acts try to fill. This could explain the reason why the attacker was contented in raping and killing the woman described in Darley and Lanate's article. Even after Winston was scared away by the lights from the households, he had to come back to finish his mission of causing harm to the lady. "Then he prowled down the street again, found the woman curled and red and wet, and started to stab where he'd left off, slot- ting open her body at the throat and genitals" (Darley & Lanate, 97). This shows the extent to which human beings can execute pain at their fellows. "The whole time, none of the neighbors attempted to come out and help the lady yet several of them were watching from the balcony." The level of negligence by the neighbors is appalling given that the incident took about 35 minutes while they were watching from the windows, in addition, the attacker was able to return two more times to finish his mission. The fact that people were not concerned by her ordeal and screams reveals the human nature not to care about those that are not very close. Although it could be argued by the diffusion of responsibility perspective, it is a clear evidence that people are mostly unmoved by the suffering of others. According to Darley and Latane, people seem not to be bothered about helping a person when they are in groups. That explains why there was no one who was brave enough to assist the lady.

A view of the works by Darley and Latane reveals some strategies for human beings to fight-off the innate nature of sadism. Through this analogy, the authors argue that cruelty being an innate nature among human beings; it is upon them to exercise self-restraint and to reduce suffering of others. For this reason, based on some experiments, these authors argue that one must assume personal responsibility amidst a group of observers. Like in the criminal case being studied, it appears that each of the neighbors delegated the responsibility of rescue to the other, which ended up with a fatality. More experiments by the duo involving a student who faked some seizures also justified the fact that human beings are cruel by nature and are not willing to help. Similar to Milgram results of response, about thirty percent of people were the only ones who could respond. For this reason, Darley and Latane concluded that people are not willing to help due to ingrained apathy in addition to the presence of other people. This can be explained by purporting that people are selfish and feel like helping others may endanger their lives or property. Consequently, leaders and authorities are known for exploiting the innate cruelty in human beings by forcing people to do terrible things on others (Milgram). For instance, in the modern setup, some leaders may paint non-supporting groups as enemies who needs to be dehumanized. Consequently, based on the principle of obedience as described by Milgram, the people tend to go up in arms against those that are perceived to be opponents. In the experiment, the fact that the participants are willing to execute the subjects with much higher voltage shows that the cruelty is innate. It only takes a triggering factor to be elaborated. However, the opponents of the idea of ingrained cruelty may argue that the desire to obey the authorities is what drives people to do such behaviors.

Based on the above arguments, it is clear that in addition to the innate cruelty among human beings, it takes some other factors to elaborate them. From the Darwinian Theory of evolution, human beings have had the tendency to become hostile against the people perceived to be strangers. Consequently, human are said to be born with an ingrained nature of sadism. Some psychological experts have explained this phenomenon as being driven by sexual desires and aggression, with a biological basis. Therefore, the fact that people still co-exist peacefully is because of self-control. Therefore, it is upon the caregivers to teach their children at an early stage about how to interact with strangers and people from diverse backgrounds. The readings provided important facts regarding the way human beings are born to behave when living together. An analysis of the killing of a woman in New York reveals the unwillingness by people to provide help. In this case, the woman was killed in a span of more than thirty minutes yet the neighbors were watching from their windows. This situation is explained by the attribute of diffusing responsibility. In this case, everyone delegates the responsibility to save the young woman to the other. In addition, due to the selfish nature, no one wants to risk their life while trying to help the lady. Another factor that has been mentioned, which affects the human nature to be cruel is obedience to the authorities. An analysis of Milgram's text, The Perils of Obedience, reveals the extent to which people can elaborate their innate nature just to obey their leaders or the authorities. In this case, the participants were willing to increase the electric shock voltage for their subjects as much as possible. The experiments carried out in the two readings provide a crucial insight regarding the characteristics of human beings to be violent and sadists against their neighbors. It is clear that in addition to the innate human nature, other external forces are responsible for some behaviors against other people.

References

Darley and Latane. "In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing; Darley and Latane's Training Manual- A Five Stage Approach." Opening Skinners Box, Great Psychological Experiments in the 20th Century. (2004)

Milgram, Stanley. "The Perils of Obedience." Proquest Innformation and Learning Centre. (2003)