Good vs Evil

Whether humans are born to act in a specific manner, or they develop a certain way because of society, is a debatable topic. In class we watched 3 videos to answer this question. The first video shows that we are socialized to act in a specific way with a experiment they performed where men are asked to electrically shock other men, when they answer a wrong question. The second video talks about an experiment where certain men are suppose to act as prisoners, while others act as guards, and their change in behaviour gets closely watched. The last video was a TED Talk where Philip Zimbardo used the Abu Ghraid Prison as an example. The videos shown in class prove that our good or evil behaviour depends on the society and the situation.

To start off, the first video regarding Stanley Milgram continuously proves that society influences our behaviour greatly. This is first made evident when one of the men, shocks a person with the reading 'xxx' underneath. After hearing the man that was receiving the shock, complain about his heart condition, the man outside becomes a bit nervous. He tells the man in authority that it would not be wise to continue and states his reasoning being that he does not want to be held responsible. After discovering that he will not be held responsible for his actions, however, he continues giving the shocks. Clearly the situation the man is in influences his behaviour. If he was just normally in the real world, he would probably never willingly electrically shock people, but now he does. The main reason behind his actions, is because he is told to shock people by someone with a higher authority. Evidently, the situation the man is in forces him to do something that is defined as evil. Furthermore, people tak...

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...rtoon evidently proves that we are not born inherently good or evil, as the cop says that you cannot call me a good or bad cop. He goes onto say that his personality depends on the circumstances. In other words, he says that he is socialized to act and behave in a certain way. To summarize, the last video we watched proves that humans do not inherit their behaviour or personality, but it all depends on the situation.

In conclusion, all the videos we watched in class had one common aim, to prove that humans are not inherently good or evil, but instead, are socialized to act in a specific manner. This has been a debatable topic. While some people believe that we, as humans, are inherently good or evil, others think that we are socialized to act in that specific manner. How one chooses to act depends on the situation and the circumstances, not on how they were born.