Can a person be born evil ?

I've always been of the opinion we create children after they are born and there is no such thing as a child that is born evil but I'm beginning to wonder now.

I've just read a case of a boy of 4 that has done some heinous things to his baby sister. I can't quite believe his family, who are as appalled as everyone else have created this little monster, he's totally without emotion and unable to empathise at all.

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

I dont think they are born evil (apart from Damian) but I do think they are born with the propensity to be, more so than others.

its just a case of influence after that.....ans parenting.

I'm sure the killers of Jamie Bulger would not have killed had they had different parents/upbringing.

edit; sorry Julie. ..edited as you replied.

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

That's an interesting twist I guess that could be the answer.

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

I would imagine that at birth, they only have the inherited genes. Everything that follows then plays a part in shaping their personality, pulling them this way and that, creating the evil monster, the saint and everything else in between.

If the parent/s and ancesters were evil beings (I mean an evil gene has developed over the centuries) then maybe yes, it is possible to be born evil.

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

I suppose our brains are all wired differently (hence arguments on forums). I don't believe you can be born evil but I believe you can have a different way of thinking which will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

Whilst I certainly don't buy the concept of original sin, I certainly think people can be born with the propensity to be a psychopath or sociopath like Brady.

This biography of Brady is chilling in the extreme!

http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co....iles/ian-brady

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

Thank you for the link
I was toying with reading Colin Wilson's 'The Serial Kilers' (which I thought was to be a psychological analysis) but having looked at the reviews, it would seem that it doesn't delve very far into the psychology.

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

Yes that is chilling I'm not sure though it proves he was born evil, he may have been very different if he'd been born into a different more stable family.

I'm not even sure it proves a propensity or that he would have been quite do evil if certain things had or hadn't happened to him. Meeting a like minded person must have been rare.

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

A psychopath meeting a psychopath?
Interesting concept, which will hopefully be explained by one of the people on here who studied psychology.

Re: Can a person be born evil ?

This is it Rachel. Many people just look and 'tut' at the parents when kids go wrong, they seem to forget about all the ancestor's genes too.

Forgive me bringing dogs into this, but I have seen several times, one pup in a litter that is nothing like the same temperament as the rest of the family, right from early days.
I have one here at the moment who was born and raised exactly like the rest of the litter, but is nothing like her Mum/Dad/Aunt or Grandmother in temperament.
So why not in humans too.
I don't believe you can always blame parents, although in many cases it is so.