Are Some Children Just Born Evil? (1 Viewer)

[Max Leung]

According to one of the links in the Google search results I posted, they did act territorial - but only after the groups were time-sharing the campground (not at the same time) and a few other artificial situations set up by the researchers. I don't know if they became very territorial until after or before the contests. At any rate, scarcity of a shared resource at the campground would probably be good enough to trigger the behavior anyways - I think the researchers tried that too.

I haven't found the time to follow the articles in the links - hopefully your friend studied it in-depth.

The funny thing about these human behavioural studies is that both camps would use them to prop up their own views. "It's genetic!" "No it's not!" "Yes it is!" "Isn't" "Is!".

(Hey, maybe they are both right! )

 

[andrew markworthy]

Weirdly, I have spent most of today running tutorials on whether schizophrenia is genetic or environmental or hey, maybe certain genes have to be present and then there has to be a specific environmental trigger, and then maybe genes can shape the environment so maybe the genes create the environmental trigger, and ...

 

[Chu Gai]

That sounds positively schizo andrew.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

Thank you for the kind words, but while about 60% of kids with ADD seem to get better as they mature, the rest keep the condition through to adulthood. While there are good ways to control it (diet, exercise, medicine, etc.), there really isn't a cure. It is more like diabetes, where depending on your situation it can only be controlled, and like diabetes you may be able to control it without medication depending on the severity of the condition.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Yes. But you can usually differentiate them because they wear pink

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Apologies, Andrew, after thinking more about your statement, I get what you meant now. But I still maintain that human beings are the only species that kill for the fun of it, not too many Lion's, Tiger's or Bear's (oh my!) who are serial killers.

 

[MarkHastings]

BUT there's a MAJOR difference when comparing humans and animals! In the animal world, it's OK to kill. A lion spends a lot of it's adult life killing for food, so there's not much time to go around killing for fun.

 

[Chu Gai]

Well, I was watching some cable show...Discovery or Nat'l Geographic, and I saw how one group of lions was having its young killed off by an older lioness while the pack went hunting. Then I've heard of apes doing similar things where it appeared the motivation was something akin to jealousy.

 

[Lew Crippen]

You clearly don’t have a cat, John.

Our sweet little kitties are truly nature’s pure killers. I’m not sure if the right word is ‘fun’, ‘instinct’, or something else, but they kill (given any chance) far in excess of their survival needs. And they will kill things that they can’t ear (such as scorpions).

And they appear to have fun while killing.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

When I was young, I had a cat that used to kill young rabbits and place them under my window as a "present". He never ate them, he was just looking for acknowledgement for his prowess.

Anyone who has ever seen a domestic cat play with it's prey can never say animals don't "kill for fun". Veal in a slaughterhouse have a better time than a mouse being batted around before certain death in the jaws of our precious felines.

 

[MarkHastings]

While I believe that animals don't necessarily kill for 'fun', I would also have to think that humans don't do it for 'fun' either.

Just as a cat will kill an animal as a 'present' or as a way of showing his/her dominance, so do humans. The serial killer who goes around torturing and killing, doesn't do it for 'fun', he does it to feel superior.

That's the basic part of nature. A male will always kill to prove superiority. Humans just decided that it would be a crime to do so, so we don't accept it like in the animal world.

We, unfortunately, have to live and put up with society's 'weak links' whereas animals don't.

 

[MarkHastings]

LOL - Ebaumsworld comes through again:
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/03/evilkid.html

 

[andrew markworthy]

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yes, I do, and i've seen him kill his share of birds, however that's what cat's do, it's natural, a human killing another human for any form of pleasure isn't natural IMO.

Let me put it another way then, and it is a little crude, but human's, serial killers specifically, are the only one's who get sexually aroused at the thought of murder.

Name another species who does that.

 

[MarkHastings]

Considering humans are really the only animal that has sex for pleasure, you're correct in saying that animals don't get aroused by killing.

But as far as humans getting aroused by killing, I can't imagine that they're getting aroused by the actual killing itself. It's the feeling of being superior that some nut-jobs get off on. They get aroused by the fact that they are feeling superior than someone else.

Animals kill for superiority. Humans (who get sexually aroused by killing) are experiencing the same 'superiority'. It's the same thing, it's just that we humans have the ability to connect sexual desire with feelings of superiority.

Not to get too blue, but that's what rape is mostly about. It's more so about the control rather than the actual sex.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Humans are also the only animals that are self-aware (possibly excepting some other primates).

Basically what you are requiring is that other animals must be aware of their actions in order to fit the criteria you set out.

I’d branch off into a discussion on original sin, except that would be against forum rules.

 

[Holadem]

Strange argument.

Name me an animal that has "thoughts of murder".

--
H

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to."

--- Mark Twain

 

[Chu Gai]

Apes.

 

[Micheal]

Male lions will kill male cubs when taking over a pride. Sure there's a reason for it but does that make it right? The thought must be... "I'm going to kill these babies so that they don't get in my way when they grow up!"