3. The Hidden Psychology of Evil: Are We programmed to be Evil?

Written by Raheela Shahid & Taaha Ahmad

Sarah was gazing at the screen of the computer and her heart was pounding insanely as she read a message which was full of cussing. Previously, she had been the subject of some embarrassing photos of her classmate that had been uploaded on the internet and now, she was the one being laughed at. The finger was touching the share button. Evil.

Why not click once, she said to herself. They all are doing it. It was long enough to seem like an eternity. Sarah could feel something black and exciting about to happen within her, the desire to merge with the mob, to be strong because part of it would be her part in reducing another to humiliation. She clicked.

Afterwards, Sarah was unable to sleep that night. The contentment which had come to her before had become nauseating and oppressive. How did she end up being a person who can so easily cause damage to another person? Did she have something evil lurking within, ready to come out?

The case of Sarah is not uncommon. We have all had times in our lives when we have taken the darker side of our life, where we put the heart out of the picture and embraced impulse, peer attraction or selfishness. But what drives these choices? Are humans born evil or do we become that way? And the greater question is, can we overcome these characteristics?

The Latest Research On Why We Have Dark Urges

New neuroscience has shown us that this is actually true and that our brains do actually have mechanisms which can lead us to engage in our own harmful behaviour. The fight-or-flight responses that the amygdala in our brain activates in cases of perceived threat may be released as aggression. In the meantime, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that governs moral decisions and impulse control, will not be fully mature until reaching our mid-twenties, which is why young adults like Sarah do not completely think about the repercussions of their actions.

The pioneering work of Dr James Fallon on the psychopath brain revealed that there are some neural patterns that were related to the antisocial behaviour. But Fallon found out one amazing thing: he had the same structure of the brain which psychopaths had and was leading rather normal, non-violent life. This observation gives some implications that we may tend to have some biological predispositions to this or that kind of behaviour but our environment and our decisions are what make the final say in which way we will go.

Neuroplasticity, whereby through our ability to rearrange and make new neuronal connections, have given us hope. Although we are born with specific inclinations, our brains are not fixed throughout life. Whenever we make a choice to be good, rather than cruel; peaceful instead of angry, our neural pathways are being retrained towards good.

Developmental Psychology: When Darkness Takes Root

Children aren’t born evil, but they aren’t born purely good either. Moral development Lawrence Kohlberg was a developmental psychologist who discovered the stages of moral development by revealing how our ability to think ethically develops. Young kids are basically working on a punishment-avoidance system; they do not avoid bad behaviour because of getting to know how it affects other people, but to avert punishment.

It is at the age of 2-7 that children learn to be empathetic and start to realise that other people have feelings and worldviews different to their own. In this period, any exposure to violence, neglect or sporadic instructions on morality may cause derailment of normal growth. Trauma in children can result in hypervigilant stress reactions that increase the chances of the child perceiving threats that do not actually exist, and as a defense mechanism become aggressive.

Nevertheless, children are not condemned even when they have a hard situation. According to the research on resiliency, a child can conquer their early hardship by having supportive relationships, stable boundaries, and the chance to put their empathy into practice.

An Islamic Perspective: The Battle Within

The Islamic psychology gives deep illuminating accounts of the dual nature of human beings in the sense of being good and evil. The Quran registers this temporal conflict in verse 2, surah Ash- Shams: And [by] the soul And He who modelled it And inspired it [with knowledge of] its vile and its virtuous.” (91:7-8)

It is in this verse that we get the hint that people are naturally born with both violent as well as creative drives. We are not inclined toward evil, however we are not necessarily good either. Instead, we’re given the capacity for both, along with the consciousness to choose between them.

The Islamic tradition of nafs explains varying aspects of self. The nafs al-ammārah would be our lower self where lower is motivated by the moment to moment cravings and impulses, what psychologists would call the id. This side of man yearns to achieve what it finds desirable immediately and that is why it can bend us towards selfishness or destructive attitudes. But humans have another soul the nafs al-lawwama, the self-accusing soul; the soul that feels guilty and remorseful when we do the wrong thing; just as Sarah did following the time on the internet that was so dreadful.

Islamic psychology aim is achievement of nafs al-mutma innah, the serene soul that has been made to balance individualizing and moral imperatives. This is not the question of oppressing our humanity, but of educating our impulses in the interest of greater things.

The Psychology of Moral Disengagement

Albert Bandura, the psychologist, defined a series of mechanisms due to which harmless people are capable of committing harmful behaviour even being guiltless. Moral disengagement helps us to suppress our ethical norms temporarily. We may apply euphemism names (calling bullying as just joking around), favorable comparison (at least I am not as bad as they are) or evasion of responsibility (everybody was doing it).

The mechanisms can explain the nature of good people doing bad things. Sarah was no bad person; she was engaging in cyberbullying because she was applying moral disengagement to it. These psychological processes can aid us in understanding that we are in danger of losing our values.

The bystander effect shows yet another mechanism in which our psychology can be used to cause a negative effect. In situations where the penalty of actions lies in the hands of many individuals, people are not very much under compulsion to do what is right. This is why audiences could be inhumane, and these same people could be friendly when it comes to individual cases.

The Internal War: Competing Systems

The modern psychology acknowledges that human behaviour is an outcome of interaction between various mental systems. The dual-process theory proposes that we possess two ways of thinking which are System 1 (fast, automatic, emotional) and System 2 (slow, deliberate, rational). Most of our ethical follies happen in the instance of System 1 responses swamping System 2 thinking.

By the time Sarah noticed that sharing button, the System 1 was reacting to instant social demands and the “newness” of belonging. The intensity of the moment drowned her System 2, which was going to weigh in on the damage to her classmate. Such inner contradictoriness is not a symbol of weakness; it is one of the basic features of human psychology.

The anterior cingulate cortex is a conflict monitor that signals us that something is wrong with our automatic responses and that it is in opposition to our values. Other individuals possess a more vigilant conflict monitoring system and therefore are more sensitive to conflicts involving morals. Some may require to cultivate this awareness by being mindful and meditating on themselves.

Redemption Part: Wisdom

The teachings of the Prophet Muhammad provide us with practical knowledge about how to control our darker sides. He affirmed that the faithful does not consume to satisfy his fullness and watch his neighbour starve, a pointer to the fact that broadening our circle of concern to encompass other people will reduce selfish inclinations.

Anger management was also learnt by the Prophet as he said: “The strong man is not he who can bear other men down. To have the ability to dominate oneself whenever he feels anger is a strong person.” This hadith acknowledges that we tend to fight our strongest battles inside of ourselves.

And, probably the greatest thing, the Prophet stressed redemption and development: “Every son of Adam is a sinner, but the best son of sinners are those who repent.” This teaching considers the fact that human beings are fallible and yet holds the promise of transformation. The guilt that Sarah experienced following her situation of cyberbullying was not some form of punishment; it was a step in the right direction for her conscience.

Tawbah (repentance) is a word in the Islamic religion that denotes something beyond being penitent. It demands an acknowledgment of the destruction done, experiencing proper guilt, asking forgiveness, and promising to modify activity. This is done in accordance with the current method of treatment because this method focuses on an understanding of the fact, accountability, and progress.

Integration of Science and Spirituality

The insights gained in the study of positive psychology confirm a lot of the religious insights into human flourishing. Research indicates that experiencing gratitude, compassion and forgiveness leads to improved mental health and better relationships in the people. The act of meditation and mindfulness, as highlighted in numerous religious teachings, actually alters the very neural infrastructure of the brain so that it facilitates improved control of emotions and emotional sensitivity.

Positive emotions according to the broaden-and-build theory are postulated to broaden our consciousness and amass psychological resources. As we learn to appreciate, be grateful, and be compassionate, we are more innovative in our solutions to problems and more robust when dealing with adversities. This brings about a positive spiral in which positive choices previously reduce the difficulty of other coming positive decisions.

Spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation and service to others have been found in research on neuroplasticity to enhance brain neuron pathways related to peace and well-being. Whenever we decide to forgive rather than bear a grudge, to be generous rather than be selfish or vain; we are not only making an ethical decision; we also are reinforcing our brains to better respond to good.

Realistic Measures to Light

Learning about the psychology of evil is not supposed to justify evil behaviour, but to enable superior decisions. These evidence-based tactics on how we can bolster our better angels include:
Before reacting, take a pause. It is in this moment in between the stimulus and the response, where freedom dwells. And when you have the temptation to say some mean thing or do something selfish, pause then take three deep breaths. This allows time to make your prefrontal cortex come into play.

Practice perspective-taking. Before you are planning to do something think of the following question: What will whatever I will do have to say to the other person? What would I feel like when somebody did it to me? Empathy is a practice which becomes stronger.
Fill your life with the positive elements. We are social animals and internalise the ideals of the people with whom we associate. Select relationships that require growth out of you instead of serving as an opportunity to allow the worst in you.
Develop spiritual practices. Be it a prayer, meditation or helping others, a daily spiritual exercise makes our ability to morally act strong. Studies continue to show that more satisfied reports of life and more prosocial behaviour is above average among people with firm spiritual roots.
Apologise after you fall. We all have our times that are not to be proud of, as it was the case with Sarah. The secret here is to understand and accept damage and make it a point to improve in the future.

The Ongoing Journey

Are we wired for darkness? The reply is yes and no. We are made up of biological and psychological mechanisms that may give rise to bad behaviour, but we are blessed with an ability to grow, to show compassion and excel in morality. The dark impulses are not malware in human programming, but something that was beneficial in the course of the evolutionary process, but must be controlled consciously in our contemporary lives.

And that act of meanness was not the end of the story of Sarah. The following day, she contacted her classmate, sincerely apologised to the latter, and tried to dispel the toxic information that she had contributed to distribute. The first decision that she made was atrocious but her reaction to that decision shows what kind of a person she was.

All of us are a work in progress, and we can do so much good, as well as so much evil. It is not whether we have dark impulses or not, yet it is what we do with it. We have the chance to pick usually opportunity to light instead of darkness, kindness over meanness and development over atrophy each moment. 1

Psychology of evil has lessons that explain that we cannot immediately get rid of our ability to harm but we can enhance our ability to do something good. We can be who we want to be, not perfect, but gradually improving through knowledge, experience and spiritual development.

Call to Action

Are you prepared to dive into your psyche to learn more about being more compassionate and morally fit? Step one today: do one unexpected gesture of kindness, devote five minutes in thankful meditations, or make a call to reconnect a broken relationship.

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Have you ever hade your own “Sarah” moment? What helped you choose differently next time? Post a comment on your opinion. 1