Characteristics of Evil Wrongdoing Harm Motivation Affect (Emotion) Responsibility (lack thereof) Lack of Empathy ? The true face of evil?

Evil & Religion Devil = “Opposer” or adversary of God Christian mythos – Satan had opposed God and was thrown out of heaven (John Milton’s Paradise Lost) Promotes evil in world Evil is defined through good → its opposite TWO ideas from opposite concept: 1. Evil & Good are locked in a battle – Good will eventually prevail

Evil is often seen as equal to good Leads to question of whether human nature is good or evil 2. Creates hostilities between groups (nations, ethnic groups, social units, etc.) “we are good, you are the opponent, the opposite of good is evil, therefore YOU are EVIL Our enemies have “made a pact with Satan”

Evil at the movies The Villain! Staple of horror movies 2 periods Supernatural – vampires, werewolves, etc Humans Madman who kills for little apparent reason Authorities have difficulty Women are victimized Hero fights back and prevails Action movie villains Motivated by greed, money, power Sadistic, egotistical

Evil in Pop Culture (literature, cartoons, etc) Common characteristics No reasons for aggression, attacks Sadistic Wishes, desires are not fully explained Evil creates chaos Destroy beauty Good guys fight back in self-defense Evil people speak in foreign accents Evil people use torture, mind control Take away freedom Little emotional control

Pure Evil 1. Involves intentional infliction of harm 2. Driven by wish to harm for pleasure People describe their misfortunes by others as having no reason, while they make up stories to rationalize what they do to others Distortion of other’s actions 3. Victims are good All responsibility is on the evil-doer, victim is innocent

4. Evil is a part of the “outsider” group, enemy Exist only in relation to good (us) Bad guys look different & speak differently 5. Evil has been evil since beginning of time Steady, relentless 6. Evil represents opposite of order, peace, & stability Disrupts normalcy 7. Evil is characterized by ego Excessive pride 8. Cannot control anger & rage Impulsive despite its portrayal as cool & calculating

Is There Pure Evil? REALLY????? The Myth Criminals are evil Drugs cause evil behavior The “enemies” are evil for its own sake Victims are innocent Evil has earned whatever consequences come their way Good guys use violence for a greater cause Reciprocal Causality of Violence Both Good & Evil use violence Difference: Good use it to punish LAWFULLY Evil use it maliciously, arbitrarily, sadistically to hurt innocents REALLY?????

Police responding to call of domestic violence Examples Police responding to call of domestic violence Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor Terrorism Asymmetric warfare Belief they are fighting the righteous battle against the oppressor! Myth of Pure Evil allows people to justify violence & oppressive actions Allows evil to masquerade as good! Roy F. Baumeister

Four Root Causes of Evil Means to an End To get what they want Money, stuff, etc Violence is an ineffective way to achieve this end Perpetrators do not appreciate this fact  because they are evil

2. Threatened Egotism When our self-image is attacked Evil people have high opinion of oneself Key factor  how stable is the self-esteem Narcissism  extreme self-centeredness High, but unstable self-esteem mixed with narcissism creates a likelihood of lashing out aggressively against those who threaten one’s ego

3. Idealism BECAUSE IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO! Violence is a necessity to combat evil Stalin, Mao, Khmer Rouge, al-Qaeda, United States? “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” - don’t know who said it originally, but I have said it a LOT

Sadism: Evil because it is fun