Bennick 1

Kenzi Bennick
Professor Thomas
UWRT 1102-021
3rd, December 2015
Reflection: This paper sure has been a beast to tackle. It hasnt been terrible, but I find that so
many of my weaknesses within writing come out. I have found it difficult to let my paper flow
and have each paragraph or idea connect. It seems to be choppy and in pieces. I have had to go
back and add in more transitions while writing. I do enjoy this paper in the aspect that it can be
more personable and it can be a conversation rather than just an informational piece. It has
been easier to incorporate the sources from the annotated bibliographies as well since the
information and quotes had already been found. Instead of having to write from a blank slate,
the bibliographies have given it a baseline to build from the ground up. Something else I am
struggling with is not sounding repetitive. So far it seems like I keep saying and pointing out the
same things continuously. Hopefully it pulls together and shows my thoughts and findings
accurately.
Final Reflection: I hate to say it but Im so relieved to be done with this paper. I enjoyed it but it
was very long and took a lot of time to produce. I learned a lot throughout the paper especially
with formatting and citations. I also think it was building blocks for me in becoming a better
writer. Hopefully it is a good read and interesting to others.

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WID 12/01/15: The feedback I received was very helpful and I used pretty much all of the
feedback that I was given. I know I needed to work on formatting issues, and also where and
when to use quotations and italics. Signal phrases were also something I worked on and fixed
within my paper. I overall found the feedback that I was given very helpful and made my paper
stronger.
Thesis Paper Draft One: Are We Basically Good or Evil?
Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It's a constant struggle as to which
one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.
-Eric Burdon - British Musician
I have went back and forth on this topic and have wondered many late nights why I didnt
pick something easier to write about, but then I realize that it is a question I had myself and I
wanted it to be answered. My question: Are we basically good or evil? Are we good? Are we
bad? Are we a mixture of both? Is there a right answer to all of these questions? I dont believe
there is, as it is controversial and people all think differently about it. This one question is filled
with many others which I hope to shed some light upon. I viewed this question as a challenge
which is why I decided to stick with it.
I like to give people the benefit of doubt approach and think that everyone is good. I
would like to think that everyone deep down has a good heart and does good things but this is
not the case. We all know that no one is perfect, people are self-centered, and we all make
immoral decisions. Not all people let these actions control them, but then again others do. This
doesnt mean everyone is evil and out to kill and destroy, but they do things that would make

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them not categorically good. I believe that everyone is born with the potential to be good,
complete good deeds, and to be a beneficial human being to society but that opportunity is freely
given and it can also be just as freely declined. For example, in the time of the Holocaust people
were taught or told that the Jews were the problem, so evil was embedded within the people.
They had to choose to conform to the evil actions or to be against them. So again I ask, as
humans, are we basically good or evil?
Though this topic is more so opinionated, I have found ample amounts of research and
facts to answer this question. Throughout all of my research, I found that many professors and
scientists believe that the human species is born evil or that there is a biological issue that causes
them to commit evil. I found others who believe that we are simply both; that there is not one or
the other but that the qualities of good and evil are both present. For example, Steve Taylor, a
professor of psychology at Leeds Beckett University, urges that people can be a combination of
good and bad qualities Taylors article, The Real Meaning of Good and Evil posted on
the Psychology Today website, gives a basic concept of humans possessing the qualities of both
goodness and evil. He explains that ones actions can be based off of their environment and that
if they are an evil person that they can be rehabilitated to display good qualities. Rehabilitation
techniques depend on the extent of what the person has done. If it is a minute situation then basic
rehab or counseling usually is helpful because the individual(s) gain knowledge of their actions
and the right way to approach situations. I have learned before that many psychologist find
therapy techniques to help them acquire a moral compass. If it is serious to where the actions
have affected others or society in a negative way: such as, crime, murder, etc., then those actions
both require prison and counseling with intense therapy. On the contrary to Taylor's beliefs,

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others might say that people are completely evil. I have learned throughout this research that
there will always be another opinion that is different from the one before. So if you view evil or
goodness in a different way than someone else, does that change your own personal opinion
because of theirs?
What does it mean to be good and to be born good? What qualities would you possess if
you were only good natured? Good is defined as being right, proper, well-behaved, kind,
beneficent, and many other characteristics that you can think of. Taylor states that, It means
benevolence, altruism, selflessness, and self-sacrifice towards a greater cause all qualities
which stem from a sense of empathy, defining his version of being good. We all have different
words that we can think of to describe the word good and the qualities that it possesses. When
you think of being born good, it changes slightly. To be born good, you would need to obtain the
quality of selflessness straight from the womb. Babies, when born, are self-centered around their
needs and wants. They do not know any different because they are physically unable to care for
themselves. Dennis Prager, the president at Prager University, conveys his view that goodness is
taught and not given. He explains, If we were born good then we wouldnt need to teach
goodness. Prager favors the idea that humans are born evil, narcissistic, selfish, morally wrong,
or even harmful to themselves and maybe others. We are born a narcissist, preoccupied with
number one, ourselves. Taylor and Prager together believe the same when it comes to the
grounds of evil. They both portray the idea that the root of this evilness stems from selfishness.
However, some might reject to this idea. Others would say that there is reasoning behind evil
actions or the exact opposite and that we are in fact born good. Prager touches on this subject as
well and the reasoning behind believing that people are born basically good. Most of the time,

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the ones who think this way believe that there are outside forces that cause or drive someone to
do an evil or wrong act. If you believe people are basically good, you are likely to believe that
poverty or bigotry or some other outside force causes people to commit violent crimes;
something drove them to it. This is where environmental factors as well as biological factors
come into the equation. Environmental factors could include the way an individual was raised
and the environment they were brought up in, such as home life, school life, friends, and other
relatives that influenced their life. All of these can play a role into a person's environment and
ultimately decide if they will be raised to turn out good or evil. I find myself on the fence when it
comes to this topic because I believe that you are most definitely influenced and taught
throughout your life what it means to make good, moral decisions, as well as learning what is
wrong. I also agree that there can be biological issues, like mental disabilities that can cause an
individual to make irrational bad decisions. I personally think we obtain both goodness and evil
within us. Neither I, nor any other individual is perfect because we all make mistakes and make
irrational decisions.
In my research, I wanted to be able to connect the reasoning behind why we might be
good or bad and what directly affects the choices we make. Joshua Greene, an associate
professor of Psychology at Harvard, conducted research on parts of the brain that affect personal
moral decision-making. Greenes study is explained as such:
Greene's study suggested that three brain structures -- the medial prefrontal cortex, the
posterior cingulate and angular gyrus on the left and right sides -- "play a central role in
the emotional processes that influence personal moral decision-making.

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Another part of the research, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS, is now a test
being used to measure judgmental changes. This has come in great use when dealing with
psychopaths. Psychopaths are incapable to correctly decide what is morally right or wrong and
most of them find pleasure in the wrongdoing. This test can help to measure their judgement
compared to someone else who is considered to be normal, or good. This can help identify what
exactly is the reasoning behind their decisions and can pinpoint the physical issue within their
brain. Adrian Raine, a criminologist and professor of criminology at the University of
Pennsylvania, stated:
A moral "feeling," which seems to be related to the brain's prefrontal cortex and
amygdala, is what takes the recognition that an act is immoral and translates that
recognition into behavioral inhibition"It is this engine that functions less well in
antisocial, violent and psychopathic individuals.
Psychopaths have shown through testing that, when having to make a moral decision,
there is less activity in the medial frontal and posterior cingulate cortices within the brain. There
also is the Cavum Septum Pellucidum, which is a section in the brain where two membrane
strips fuse together during fetal development. For some, they do not fuse which leaves a gap.
This is shown to cause lack of fear in the person's personality. It leads to other traits and more
times than not, causes the psychopathic personalities. Also, another section of the brain called the
amygdala is the center for emotions and behavior. In killers, the amygdala is significantly smaller
than those of others, which could also be reasoning and a motive behind their actions. Raine did
research on the Amygdala and Cavum Septum Pellucidum phenomenon and believes they are
directly correlated to the actions of killers and psychopaths. This could be one of the reasons why

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someone would be born or grow into being an evil person because their body has been
unsuccessful in producing these parts of the brain in the correct way. I think that this explains
many of the reasons of why people do the things they do and connects to the argument behind
why people might be evil or bad, but can it be an instinct rather than just taught?
Tom Stafford, an associate editor for Psychologist Magazine, claims that babies have the
instinct to prefer good over evil. Stafford has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience and teaches at
the University of Sheffield. Stafford describes an experiment, which was conducted at Yale
University that was used to test the actions of babies and whether or not they responded to a
puppet being good or bad. Babies are humans with the absolute minimum of cultural influence
they don't have many friends, have never been to school and haven't read any books. Babies
have not been influenced by society yet and have not experienced the challenge of deciding right
and wrong. The experiment was a puppet show done for small children where some characters
promoted goodness by being helpful to others and sharing their toys, while other characters were
mean with not sharing and not helpful towards the others. As hoped for, most the infants at the
end of the show would reach for the helpful character when they were presented with the option
to choose. There was a few who did not chose the good puppet, as to what this means I am not
quite sure. It could mean a lapse in judgement or that they simply didnt understand. The only
way to really explain this would be that it is an instinct. They have not been able to grasp the
concept of right and wrong yet because of their age. This could also be an argument for the
opposing side that the babies that chose the good puppets could have been wrong in their
decision because they simply didnt know better. After all, they havent been able to learn right
or wrong yet have they? This was a very small scale experiment and did not settle any

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confrontation over the good and evil of human nature. Stafford states, At a minimum though, it
shows that tightly bound into the nature of our developing minds is the ability to make sense of
the world in terms of motivations, and a basic instinct to prefer friendly intentions over malicious
ones. I think this experiment was helpful to see a different perspective of good and evil as well
as the view from a childs mindset.
Throughout my research I found numerous views on this topic but nothing that led to a
specific answer to my question. Opinions ranged from believing that humans are basically good,
to humans being basically evil. Others felt that it is a mixture of the two, and we have acquired
them both because of growing up within the environment that we were placed in. It is such a
diverse topic and can only go so broad. Going into constructing my inquiry I didnt think that
there was any question to it. People are basically evil, end of discussion. That was not the case
here. Being good or being evil cannot be determined by anyone but by yourself. You decide how
to act, what to do, and the decisions you make. There are outside variables but we decide if we
wish to overcome those variables or not. Like how Taylor talked about rehabilitation and
regaining the good qualities back. Pope Francis inspired many by stating, Each of us has a
vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is
good... Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight
evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place. So what do
you think? Are we basically good or evil?

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Works Cited
Are People Born Good? Prod. Dennis Prager. Perf. Dennis Prager. Prager University, 31 Mar.
2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. <https://www.prageru.com/courses/politicalscience/arepeople-born-good>.
"Eric Burdon." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2015. 2 December 2015.
Greene, Joshua. "How Your Brain Makes Moral Judgments - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News
Network, 27 Mar. 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.
"Pope Francis." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2015. 2 December 2015.
Stafford, Tom. "Are We Naturally Good or Bad?" BBC. BBC, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.
Taylor, Steve, Ph. D. "The Real Meaning of 'Good' and 'Evil'" Psychology Today. N.p., 26 Aug.
2013.Web.19 Oct. 2015.
The Biological Roots of Violence. Perf. Adrian Raine. CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 10
Nov. 2015.