Babies are sometimes described as self-absorbed or aggravating but the fact is that they know the difference between right and wrong at merely three months old. Suppose I have presented your six-month-old child with a scenario, a little girl is struggling to, let’s say, open a box. One character will come along and help the little girl to open the box but another one will pass her kicking the box over. Research from Yale University shows that your child will have an undeniable preference towards the ‘good character.’ Children as young as three-month-olds show a preference for the ‘good guys’ as opposed to ‘bad guys.’ Today, when someone participates in an action that is considered wrong, for example, murders, parents are blamed for that action just as much as the individual is. They are blamed ‘for not raising their child correctly.’ While that can be true to a certain extent, as parents are essentially role models for their children, from a young age, they have a sense of morality, So when psychopaths or someone participate in unethical behaviours it is a brain development problem. Therefore, nobody should be blaming the parents of psychopaths or the individual themselves for the immoral actions.
Every individual develops a sense of wrong and right before they even turn one year old. Research is stating that no matter the gender or age they show signs of empathy, compassion, and equality. According to David Derbyshire in the article “We’re born to be moral.” states that after an experiment was done by Yale University where children are shown two characters - a good one and a bad one and the ‘five-month-olds preferred the good guy [...] the one who rolled the ball back.’ (Derbyshire, 2010) This shows that even when they are young they can distinguish the difference between right and wrong, most likely based on the actions they observe society practices. Essentially, this shows as that, as a sense of morality is embedded in them from birth, it is not likely to simply grow out of that and as a result, start performing immoral actions. However, immoral actions can be triggered from a lack of care received from a parent. Christopher Bergland from Psychology Today states that “childhood neglect increases the adult risk for morbidity and mortality” (Bergland, 2013) However, this doesn’t mean that they don’t know the difference between right and wrong. Anyone, psychopath or not, committing these unethical actions is sure to feel guilt and a feeling that they have done something wrong. This brings us back to the point that babies have a sense of morality since birth, and that is built on while growing up. Take a maternity ward as an example. It is loud because all of the babies are crying but it is not necessarily because they miss their mother. Paul Bloom says that ‘babies cry when others do out of compassion. It isn’t a dumb reaction to noise.’ (Bloom, 2013) None of those babies are even slightly aware of what they may be in the future, a psychopath or psychologist. Logically it makes sense too. If I put you in a situation with one other person, let’s call them Person A. You see Person A in pain; you want Person A’s pain to go away; then your pain, for Person A will go away too. So, the reality is that psychopaths aren't cold-blooded and they can and do know the feeling of remorse regardless of a parent's presence in their life.
As we have seen, babies are born with a sense of morality, so why do psychopaths go around performing actions that are considered immoral? The fact is that they have a brain development problem and they simply are not able to feel associated with the emotions that the aftermath of committing a crime. A researcher from Yale University - Paul Bloom, author of Just Babies : The Origins of Good and Evil states that ‘psychopaths may understand the difference between right and wrong but doesn’t feel any connection between those emotions.’ (Bloom, 2013) This is the reasoning behind their absurd actions and the lack of guilt they feel after committing a crime. Ultimately this is why psychopaths continue to do iniquitous things without thoroughly understanding that what they are doing is hurting others. In fact, ‘psychopaths can’t recognize fear let alone react to it.’ This is essentially another reason as to why psychopaths act the way they do. Fear is a triggering emotion for many. If someone is afraid of them in a given situation, chances are they will feel guilty and be much more empathetic and compassionate towards that one person. So, how do you expect to react and empathize with the fear or distress of others if you have never experienced it? Christian Keysers from Psychology Today in the article ‘Inside the Mind of a Psychopath’ proves this after showing evidence after an experiment was done on psychopaths. The results showed that ‘their empathy [in certain brain regions] was reduced, [which explains] why they committed such terrible crimes without feeling guilt.’ (Keysers, 2013) On the other hand, this doesn’t justify the actions psychopaths perform which are undoubtedly wrong. They can, in fact, empathize with people if they choose too. It’s like they have a switch which nobody can control. How exactly does that work? Just like we feel more empathetic towards our friends feeling as opposed to someone’s feeling across the globe. It just goes to show that a parent has little impact on what their child becomes when their child already does not feel associated with emotions that should determine who they become. And that they can’t control the ‘switch’ between their child’s emotions.
Taken as a whole, it is important for society to stop seeing psychopaths as monsters and stop blaming parents for the actions of any individual. Everyone should start to understand the psychological aspect of the actions of our own. It must be understood that parents are not responsible for one’s belief system. The situation I have put your baby in and the choice they make is entirely up to them. After I have shown your six-month-old child with the scenario, I’ll ask you to cover your eyes as to not have an impact on which character your child will choose. Despite the lack of guidance, your six-month-old will receive, they will still choose the good character ; the one who help open the box. In addition, when your child grows up and sees Person A in pain they will want their pain to go away as a natural human feeling. Yet, they are similar to psychopaths in a slight way as they can use their ‘switch’ to change the level of empathy they are giving people. All in all, psychopaths are not responsible for their emotions as it is something they can not control. They also do not have a strong moral core so their parents have nothing to do with their actions and should not be blamed for the things they do. Instead, society needs to start understanding these people who, at the end of the day, are still human and we should be willing to help them reach a better place because it is a problem that can be fixed.
- MailOnline, David Derbyshire for. "We're Born to Be Moral: Babies 'can Tell Good from Evil at Six Months'" Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 10 May 2010. Web. 12 June 2016.
- Bergland, Christopher. "Parental Warmth Is Crucial for a Child's Well-Being."Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, n.d. Web. 12 June 2016.
- Keysers, Christian. "Inside the Mind of a Psychopath – Empathic, But Not Always." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, n.d. Web. 12 June 2016.
- Bloom, Paul. Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
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