The human mind is the most complex thing we could ever imagine, we know so much about it but so little at the same time.
Whether we will ever fully understand its working is a mystery in itself but one thing is for sure *we all have the capacity for great evil and for great good*

https://i2.wp.com/lonemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/brain-working-2ndskiesforex.jpg
[image source](https://i2.wp.com/lonemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/brain-working-2ndskiesforex.jpg)


So is it Nature, Nurture or something else?

Most people know of the Stanford prison experiment but if you don't here's a quick overview:

The Stanford prison experiment was conducted in 1971 by a research team led by professor Phillip Zimbardo using college students. They set up a scenario in which "guards" and "prisoners" where selected randomly from a group of students who had been deemed psychologically sound of mind.
The experiment was scheduled to last 2 weeks but was cancelled after only 6 days due to the extreme levels some participants took their roles too. The guards became psychologically abusive and even physical, subjecting the mock prisoners to humiliation and degradation.

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/stanfordprisonexperiment.jpg?quality=90&strip=all
[image source](https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/stanfordprisonexperiment.jpg?quality=90&strip=all)

The experiment raised alot of questions about human psychology however recently (relative to 1971) there have been other studies that bring into question some of the findings as well as criticism on the original study. but the question remains are humans inherently evil?


When you look at certain individuals that have come from happy loving backgrounds to do terrible things we think nature, when you look at others that have come from horrific situations and done nothing but good we think nature. But when we look at people who have grown up around violence statistics tend to point towards it producing more violence.
With some exceptions we are often a product of our environment.

In another study titled "the Milgram experiment" a series of social psychology experiments were tested on participants in which one person was defined as the teacher or authority figure and another the student. The test was designed to determine whether we will follow instructions even if it goes against our basic principles of morality. 
In this experiment one participant (an actor which was unknown to the student) was strapped into what appeared to be an electric chair, in an adjacent room the student was placed and in a third room out of view the teacher was placed.

http://jsavalle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Screen-Shot-2017-05-13-at-21.48.31.png
[image source](http://jsavalle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Screen-Shot-2017-05-13-at-21.48.31.png)

The actor was given questions to answer by the student and if they got them wrong the student was instructed by their teacher to administer a shock with the voltage increasing with each incorrect answer. While some of the students expressed their desire to stop and even showed signs of mental stresses at what they were asked to do. In the end 65% of the students administered the final shock of 450 volts even though they were conflicted and did not seem to want to do it.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Graph_of_Milgram-Experiment.svg/512px-Graph_of_Milgram-Experiment.svg.png
[image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Graph_of_Milgram-Experiment.svg/512px-Graph_of_Milgram-Experiment.svg.png)

For a more comprehensive breakdown see  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment


This shows that humans are capable of doing bad things even if it goes against what they believe or wish, most notably when told to do so by an authority figure. This was designed to test whether the thousands of guards/doctors and others involved in the holocaust could of done such terrible things simply because they were told to.


These and other studies like them have been designed to test whether humans will submit to evil easily, but what about being good?
There are of course many examples of what would be considered a good human. These include people like Mahatma Ghandi, Mother Teresa etc etc. But are these simply inconsistencies in a generally evil population?

We all feel need to do the right thing and many of us express this desire, the desire to help others in need, the desire to do good things and have good things happen to us, but what about thing like "The bystander effect?" The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help.

How many videos do you see on the internet of people doing bad things and others just standing around watching? you think "If i was there i would of done something" maybe, maybe not? The human mind works in strange ways and it seems if there are other people around who do not step in we will not be willing to either.
In fact i have seen this first hand on a street in my city. A woman and her boyfriend were having a fight and he was yelling at her and abusing her in front of everyone, he took her phone and wouldn't give it back and was just generally being a dick. People all around where just standing and watching, as i was walking towards it from around 50 metres away i noticed at least 30 people standing around doing nothing, simply watching it unfold and i myself had a deep desire to do something but i dont know if i would of even if i got there before someone else stepped in. Rather luckily for me when i was around 20 metres away a man got involved to defuse the situation and at this point at least 3 others who had previously just been watching joined in.
Herd mentality it seems, no one was willing to do anything until someone else did.

https://www.therespectcampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bystander-840x424.jpg
[image source](https://www.therespectcampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/bystander-840x424.jpg)

Now that is a fairly tame example but there are videos on YouTube of a homeless man collapsing in clear pain ( a setup) and people simply walking by or watching doing nothing to help, then on the flip side they show a well dressed businessman doing the same thing and almost immediately people stop to help. This could well be just edited footage to produce more views but as i don't know for sure i can only take it at face value.


At the end of the day it is clear that humans are capable of both incredible good and incredible evil but we are all required to make the choice for ourselves. If we follow others it takes us down an incredibly dangerous path where we can forego our own morals simply due to the pressure of another individual or group. It is not easy to do what is right, and often it is alot easier to just do what were told, but just because its easy doesn't mean it is right.
We must all make the conscious choice to follow our own path in whatever direction our moral compass points, to not be sent wayward by an authority figure or a stronger personality.

http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/20100329160959-1.jpg
[image source](http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/20100329160959-1.jpg)

Our choice define who we are and whether we like it or not those choices can be hard but we must always try and choose what is good, not just for us but for humanity in general.

remember if you like what i post to upvote follow and even resteem 

Steem on Steemians.


Resources 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/5/23/15516752/science-human-nature-free-will-robert-sapolsky-interview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect
https://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html