Human Nature

For years Psychologists and Sociologists have debated on whether people are essentially good or bad. Also it is questioned if a person is dictated good or bad from birth or if it is influences form society and the people around them that can make a good person bad or a bad person good. I believe that a person is by nature good when they are born, but can turn bad because of the environment that they are exposed to.

When a child is born they have no concept of good and bad. All they know is their immediate condition and what then need to survive. A newborn child will cry when they are hungry, cold, hurt, or when they need anything else to live. It is society that teaches us to be selfish. This wanting of things for ourselves and not thinking about others is the root to a large amount of crime today, and cause a of a person to be considered bad.

A very young child will cry for the things that it needs. Some people would call this being selfish from birth. I don't believe so. All a newborn child is doing is making sure that it can get what it needs to survive. There is no way that it could provide for its self, so the child needs to make someone else do it. I feel that if the child had the ability to provide for its self but didn't then it could be considered selfish. This is an absurd thought though, there is now way a brand new baby could go and find food for its self. Humans are just not born with that ability. True selfish behavior is when someone is only concerned with what they want while completely ignoring the wishes of others.

This non-selfish behavior continues with a child until it is learned. A child around the age of one to two usually still has no concept of selfish behavior or that of being bad. I have never seen a child around that age to act in a mean way or do anything to intently hurt someone. For example, remember when you have played with a child that is one year old. Now unless you have a room with not a lot of things in it they are going to grab something that they think is a toy, now this object could break or hurt them so you take it away. The child does not demand that they have it back at this point in their life yet, they just go and find some thing else to entertain themselves. Now another year or so down the road, after learning how society behaves more, this would not be the case.

Selfish behavior is introduced and taught to us by the people around us. With out their