I’m Hailey B. I’m a psychology major, so I’m very excited for this course because I love social psychology and how it relates to studying and explaining human behaviour in a social context. I’m excited to examine the reasons why people commit ‘evil’ acts and the contributing social and cognitive factors that increase the chance that people will commit these acts. It’s interesting to consider the thought processes that lead to justifying these acts.
Our discussion in our first seminar was interesting because it really showed that the term ‘evil’ is not easily defined, making it difficult to study. The fact that few people would actually label themselves as evil even after causing harm to others shows that ideas of good and evil are subjective based on who is telling the story. Evil is truly in the eye of the beholder, and whether something can be defined as evil can vary based on context and perspective. Two identical actions can be seen as completely opposite in terms of good and evil based on the context within which they occur. Even acts that are done based on good intentions can be considered evil based on the schema and ideals of the people it effects or the people that witness it. It makes me appreciate the difficulty of studying evil when the term is so subjective and varies based on individual, social, and contextual factors.
Hailey's PSYC 4720 Blog 