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Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty
Why is there evil, and what can scientific research tell us about the origins and persistence of evil behavior? Considering evil from the unusual perspective of the perpetrator, Baumeister asks, How do ordinary people find themselves beating their wives? Murdering rival gang members? Torturing political prisoners? Betraying their colleagues to the secret police? Why do cyc...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
March 19th 1999
by Holt Paperbacks
(first published 1996)
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308)
Dec 14, 2010
Richard
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Richard by:
Jonathan Haidt in "The Happiness Hypothesis"
Strong recommendation from
The Happiness Hypothesis
by Jonathan Haidt. In chapter four, "The Faults of Others", Haidt explores hypocrisy as the result of our blindness to our own flaws and over-attention to those of others. One subheading is "The Myth of Pure Evil", and Haidt draws extensively on Baumeister:
Baumeister is an extraordinary social psychologist, in part because in his search for truth he is unconcerned about political correctness. Sometimes evil falls out of a clear blue sky onto t...more
view all 3 comments
I will say my biggest complaint first so I can just get it out in the open: it's not as good as "The Lucifer Effect" - if given the choice of the two, I will go for Zimbardo's book every time. However, this is still a good book and a good companion to Zimbardo's book.
It is older than The Lucifer Effect (being written in 1997), so there wasn't much on the question and ethics of the conflicts happening right now. Although it does discuss several other situations from the obvious reign of Hitler a...more
It is older than The Lucifer Effect (being written in 1997), so there wasn't much on the question and ethics of the conflicts happening right now. Although it does discuss several other situations from the obvious reign of Hitler a...more
Jul 30, 2008
Cormac
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those capable of going a few steps further in trying to understand the 'mystery of iniquity'
Shelves:
psychology,
anthropology
Evil, in this psychological study, is taken only in the sense of external violence. The study considers that evil can be better understood if looked at from the perpetrator's point of view, not from that of the victim. The thesis is that the perpetrator fundamentally does not view his actions as evil. This mentality is attributed to four main roots: desire for material gain, threatened egotism, idealism, and the pursuit of sadistic pleasure.
Idealism is taken in the sense of a firm belief that...more
Idealism is taken in the sense of a firm belief that...more
I loved this book. The book gives insight into the causes of evil from several perspectives. Topics include material from history, literature, philosophy and anthropology. Some concepts explored are: egotism, ambition, greed, revenge, ambivalence, guilt, and self rationalizations. Baumeister's work on this emotional subject gave me a better understanding of some contemporary evil events such as, for example, the 9/11 terrorist attack and the recent Madoff swindle.
Feb 07, 2008
James
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Adults and adolescents interested in psychology and sociology
Outstanding! The author organized his information meticulously and logically and backed it with extensive references to experiments and studies. He noted that it is necessary to judge and try to prevent evil acts or punish people when they do evil, but that to study and understand the phenomenon he needed to temporarily treat evil behavior - that is, action that is deliberately taken, knowing that it will harm someone - as a values-free subject. At the end he reiterated this point and added that...more
May 31, 2011
Kipi
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Kipi by:
Dr. Berna - Nova Southeastern University
An excellent exploration into why human beings make the choices they do. At times it almost seems that the author becomes too balanced in his perspective between perpetrators of crime and their victims, but he never excuses, only attempts to explain. The most helpful chapter was "The Myth of Pure Evil."
قرأت للمؤلف مقالا في كتاب احدث جعلني أفكر بضعة أيام وأكتشفت ان مضمون المقال موجود بتوسع في هذا الكتاب ويقول المقال بأن مصدر الشر يأتي من اربعة جذور العنف لغرض ما كالسرقة و العنف لسبب مثالي كالنازية والشيوعية والجهاد الاسلامي والعنف الاناني ولاسباب ذاتية والعنف السادي
Aug 19, 2007
Christina
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who want to read about research on the causes of human cruelty
Shelves:
2006
If you are interested in psychological explanations for why otherwise "normal" people engage in violent and cruel acts (e.g., Hitler's nazis, the Abu Ghraib incident), then you will like this book. Baumeister--being an experimental social psychologist--did not talk about nearly as much research as I would have liked, but I can forgive him given that this book was written for a general audience and not a group of psychological scientists.
As a side note, he stole a lot of his ideas or "principles"...more
As a side note, he stole a lot of his ideas or "principles"...more
Heavy read, super interesting- evil and society's perceptions of 'pure evil' throughout history.
Difficult to read because of subject matter, but very insightful.
Clear, solid analysis of what evil is, and what causes it. This book was referenced frequently by Pinker in "Better Angels..."
Aug 18, 2007
John Wiswell
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Psychology readers, social studies readers, anthropology readers, philosophy readers
Roy Baumeister's fascinating examination of human cruelty. "Evil" is one of those words we often use and rarely define, and in this thorough examination Baumeister explores its every facet, from how we identify evil and why, and into its causes. Equal parts amateur philosophy and psychology, Baumeister's study goes from current events to history, to religion, to literature and film. Baumeister writes very plainly, so non-academic readers who are interested shouldn't hesitate to pick this up.
Book club pick January 2013
This book was the perfect blend -- for me -- of scientific study and discourse for laymen. I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to keep perspective on life and human interaction.
Very very good so far. This is for my terrorism class. Distrubing, but insightful all the same!
Interesting psychologists insights into violence and other evils.
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Dr. Roy F. Baumeister is Social Psychology Area Director and Francis Eppes Eminent Scholar at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. He is a social psychologist who is known for his work on the self, social rejection, belongingness, sexuality, self-control, self-esteem, self-defeating behaviors, motivation, and aggression. And enduring theme of his work is "why people do stupid things."...more
More about Roy F. Baumeister...
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