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Transformation of Man: Between Good and Evil When a moral, virtuous, indulgent and merciful person becomes a murderer, torturer, rapist and more an evil-doer, the possible judgment relies on the reason which altered disparately human behavior in that way. Many psychologists and criminologists considered the evil acts of a human as the main argument is depended on the fact which reflects the dark side of humans. Accordingly Adam Morton who is the writer of the text Evil and Otherness examines that evil exists in an act which is intentionally done by the perpetrator. Likely forensic psychologist Paul Wilson, the writer of the text The Concept of Evil and the Forensic Psychologist declines evil an as an intentional physical and psychological violence in pursuit of an ideology. Also S. Alexander Haslam and Stephan D. Richer who are the authors of the text Questioning the Banality of Evil follow the same idea while demonstrating the individual differences with respect to their obedience to authority. The social psychologist and writer of the article The Psychology of Evil Philip Zimbardo, expands the discussion on the reason why people go wrong as he examines the individuals who come across with the devil in a miscellaneous environment which is prepared by infernal systemic forces. This examination illuminates the dark side of humans as his argument is relies on the transformation of human character. With respect to those examinations, people go wrong because of the dispositional factors which influence the individual motives, the situational forces that prepare the appropriate environment for atrocity and the systemic factors which are the source of evil acts. Humans are unique beings as the human behaviors shaped by the differences of humans which are determined by the tendencies of individuals and the intense pleasure of

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individual. Every human being has different characteristic features and that is why it is hard to pass a judgment on human nature. Nevertheless all of them have tendencies to go wrong. In that case, Wilson explains the tendencies of individuals that roots in the self-control mechanism (5). Low self-control triggers people to commit crimes and discloses evil motives and fantasies. An inability or an unwilling to putting -the fantasies -back into the box justifies the low self-control effect on serial killers as the serial killers choose to behave irresponsible and senseless when they lose their control by killing (Wilson, 4). Those tendencies of killer lies in every human kind, but the reflection may not be same in social life as there are white collar non- violent evils and having a powerful tool to apply the evil act.(Morton,12). The tool is the profit motive which is an inevitable craving of human as humans weak discipline make it easier to go wrong(Morton,13) .Thus low self -control again become a trigger because of the humans self-destructive motive regarding the profit involvement. On the other hand, intense pleasure of humans becomes an urgent role for the transformation of character. The case is engaged with the definitions of intentionally harming while having pleasure of that violence. As it is stated An evil person is the one who intentionally inflicts serious harm on another person or persons in pursuits of a personal, ideological or religious goal ,and who experiences intense psychological pleasure in doing so.(Baumeister quoted in Wilson,3). In the same way, Zimbardo covers the situation by defining evil Evil consist in intentionally behaving in ways that harm, abuse, demean, dehumanize, or destroy innocent others (Zimbardo, The Psychology of Evil, 5). Due to deliberate immoral act of human, the possible outcome is physical and sexual abuse of it is own kind unfavorably, so the pleasure by atrocious violence makes the act more evil. Serial killers who find pleasure by killing, torturing and raping commit this violence to satisfy their dark impulses and for that reason most of them gloss over their actions. Precisely, it is

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clear that their actions are deliberate. The second examination would be on the disorders which are related to the scientific existence of evil. Wilson emphasizes that the APD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) is more likely to be an illness and the APD patients attitude is different from a killer whose actions smells more evil even the distracted ones exhibit an immoral behavior (2). With respect to science and psychology, it is well accepted that the transformation of human character is possible by disorders. Briefly, letting irresistible impulses to flow and breaking the moral rules to feel satisfied causes foreseen evil act, so the dispositional factors led humans go wrong because of their weak self-control and desires of pleasure. The environment where humans live in is an eye-witness of violence, abuses and genocides as the situational forces lead them to commit evil acts. Considering the fact that situational forces influence on individuals, there are two basic definite cases: obedience of individuals by taking the instructions for granted and the group conformity which is deindividualizing the individuals. To start with the obedience to authority, the complying with the instruction which is given by the authorities, has an important role of psychology of evil act. According to Milgram it is obvious that individuals are acquiescing orders with no sense of reality that they become the perpetrators of evil ( Milgram, quoted in Haslam & Reicher,16). In that sense, persuasive force of authorities directs obedience and apathy towards the infernal commands is coexisting with unconsciousness. Zimbardo shows how the blind obedience becomes a terrifying situation in Rwanda genocide Hutu neighbors were slaughtering farmer friends and next door neighbors on command. A Hutu murderer said in an interview a decade later than The worst thing about the massacre was killing my neighbor, we used to drink together, his cattle would graze on my land. He was like a relative (Zimbardo, The Psychology of Evil, 12-13). Thus, when the command becomes a must

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rule, killing your neighbor can be the result of it and the violence as an outcome of obedience occurs in every sense. Secondly, the group conformity and acting as a group member are the two other radical factors of situational forces. Zimbardo demonstrates an agentic state to consider the mindless conformity and irresponsible action of individual which triggers the evil motives (Zimbardo quoted in Haslam & Reicher, 16). An agentic state is following orders arbitrarily as the arbitrariness makes it one step closer to the evil side. When the free will of individual is not restricted, savagery would land up because there is no accountability by force of an agentic state. Furthermore, when the violence is starting to cause pangs of conscience, the perpetrators of evil develop role expectations which are the justification of this violence. For instance, in Zimbardos Stanford Prison Experiment the roles are determined as guard role, prisoner role and it helps to normalize abuses of the prisoner- victims and helps to direct the torturers focus on the job (Zimbardo, Book Excerpt,66). Even worse, the torturer sees the cruelty as an important job which should be done gloriously with the technique (Wilson, 6). Thereby when the sufficient conditions are supplied the moral judgment disappears and normal person becomes a torturer with a brutal pride. Further, the probable outcome makes the anonymity. Hiding their identity gives the perpetrators no accountability. In Zimbardos Stanford Experiment they have anonymous appearance with the help of uniforms, masks and glasses (Zimbardo, Book Excerpt, 66). According to Zimbardo same purpose applies in the group a change in mental functioning and lack of emotional senses (66). Thus, these factors help to support the influence of situational forces in the transformation of human character. With the help of anonymity and with the use of an agentic state, group conformitys power directs an ordinary person to an evil path.

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The power of the system is the source of evil acts as the system has an indispensible role of regulating, directing and creating the situational forces. The system is a starter point of evil while its influence over all the situational forces and the dispositional factors establishes its destructive aim of enemy making. Genocides usually depend on an ideological purpose which is used to label and to further destroy the enemy nation or group by a decision-maker who directs all power to annihilate the enemy. Zimbardo delines the systemic forces as power elite ( Zimbardo, Psychology of evil, 10). The power elite pulls the strings of whole system to prepare an appropriate environment for the destruction of enemy. When the decision is taken and the pinpointing the enemy procession is completed, the vicious circle of destruction begins with labeling. To label and to eliminate the enemy, there is a need for propaganda to convince ones nation. The easy way to appy it is using media to create an ideology that the enemy nation should be destroyed ( Zimbardo, Psychology of Evil, 11). So the transformation of individuals is easily achieved by stereotyping, ridiculing a citizen becomes a perpetrator of evil, as Zimbardo denotes: The process begins with creating stereotyped conceptions of other, dehumanized perceptions of other the other as worthless, the other as all powerful, the other as demonic, the other as an abstract monster, the other as a fundamental threat to our cherished values and beliefs. ( Zimbardo, Psychology of Evil, 11). Additionally, the aspect of dehumanitaion accompanies the enemy making process. Dehumanization is the case of defining the others enemy as subhuman and for that purpose the sarcasm and serotyping are the main motives. According to Zimbardos experiment which is illustrating the relationships between the experimenters and the volunteers indicates the dehumanizing name calling animal ( Zimbardo, Psychology of evil, 17-18) this motive of labeling and dehumanizing show that even a simple experiment can motivate the evil instincts and it may turn an ordinary man into a

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merciless torturer. Thus, in pursuance of transformation of humans between good and evil, the infernal systemic forces create its devil by enemy making and propaganda. In the light of foregoing thoughts over the transformation of human character understanding the human nature brings light to the reason why people go wrong. Dispositional factors, situational forces and systemic factors guide a dangerous path to the sin city; the psyche of human should be evaluated deeply. Such that humans shifting nature have two sides good and evil as external and internal vulnerabilities show that humans are not paragons surely. All in all, two opposite forces exist within us and the choice to act in good or evil way is determined also by us. As Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho illustrates in his book The Devil and Miss Prym, good and evil can be the same person.

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Works Cited Haslam, S.Alexander and Stephen D.Richer .Questioning the Banality of Evil." The Psychologist. 21.1 (2008) 16-19.PDF. 20 Oct. 2011. Morton, Adam. Evil and Otherness. On Evil. Newyork and London: Routledge, 2004. 9-16.PDF. 20 Oct. 2011. Wilson, Paul. The Concept of Evil and the Forensic Psychologist. Humanities and Social Sciences Papers.2003. n.p.EPublications.PDF. 20 Oct. 2011. Zimbardo, Philip. Book Excerpt: Think youre above doing evil? Think again. Discover Magazine.66-67.PDF. 20 Oct. 2011. ---. The Psychology of Evil: Situated Character Transformations. The Lucifer Effect. London: Rider, 2008. 3-16. Print.