Evil
The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side
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4.2 • 6 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
An original and scientifically rigorous exploration of the darkest recesses of the human mind.
What is it about evil that we find so compelling? From our obsession with serial killers to violence in pop culture, we seem inescapably drawn to the stories of monstrous acts and the aberrant people who commit them.
But evil, Dr. Julia Shaw argues, is all relative, rooted in our unique cultures. What one may consider normal, like sex before marriage, eating meat or being a banker, others may find abhorrent. And if evil is only in the eye of the beholder, can it be said to exist at all?
In Evil, Dr. Shaw uses case studies from academia, examples from popular culture and anecdotes from everyday life to break down complex information and concepts such as the neuroscience of evil, the psychology of bloodlust and workplace misbehaviour. In grappling with thorny dilemmas--from "Would I kill baby Hitler?" to "Why do I want to murder my spouse?"--Dr. Shaw offers readers a better understanding of the world, ourselves and our Google search histories.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This overview of various kinds of aberrant behavior grouped under the umbrella term evil is well backed up by the expertise of Shaw, a senior lecturer in criminology and psychology at University College London. Emphasizing that her approach is not philosophical or religious, Shaw eschews deep philosophizing for social and neuroscientific research to discover why people engage in transgressions against moral norms, including murder, bestiality, and inaction in the face of others' transgressions. Her survey draws on the work of distinguished psychologists, including Stanley Milgram, known for his Yale study of obedience, and Elizabeth Loftus, who debunked the validity of recovered memories. Shaw is careful to state that her intent is therapeutic, not moralistic to discuss "why we do terrible things to one another, not whether these things should happen or what the appropriate punishments for them are." Arguing, like Friedrich Nietzsche, that what one calls "evil" is relative to individual experience and culture, she nevertheless finds keen things to say about the subject, notably in her explanation of the psychological concept of the "dark tetrad," a cluster of personality traits associated with aggression, namely psychopathy, sadism, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. Shaw's work will be particularly appropriate for college and high school libraries for its sober-minded, academically rigorous examination of an oft-sensationalized subject.
