Perception and Human
Nature
Perception plays a larger role in how
we view humanity’s collective nature
than we realize.
People have argued about whether humans are good or evil for awhile and the
debate seems to be swayed by what is more noticeable. Imagine a person spends
half his life doing compassionate deeds and the other doing harmful deeds. Which
half is more likely to be noticed, to stand out? Do we notice a man give money
to charity and the homeless or do we notice that man pushing the elderly down
the stairs? If we do notice both, which is more likely to stick out in our mind?
That’s the thing; cruel actions tend to be more noticeable than compassionate
actions. They’re louder and get our attention. It demands our attention
because it often stimulates our fight or flight response instead of our thoughts
and that heightened emotional reaction makes the memory more important to our
mind. In any given day, we could miss a dozen people helping each other out
and still notice the one guy acting like a jerk and when we see that guy a common
reaction could be, “People suck…”
This presents a further complication. Which actions are more likely to be reinforced
or encouraged to continue? The actions we notice or the ones we don’t?
If my cruel actions are noticed more, it’s likely those actions are going
to be rewarded more. If a high school student beats up other kids, the football
couch may put the student on the team. That’ll reinforce the behavior.
Teachers may avoid that student more which means their authority doesn’t
apply to the student anymore, another reinforcement. Sure, the student may be
punished from time to time, but months of detention doesn’t compare to
a chance at dating a cheerleader.
This presents our society with a weird situation. How do we reinforce compassionate
behavior? When someone is very obvious about trying to help others, it often
appears phony. Perhaps the responsibility relies more on the person being assisted
to go that extra step and pat their helper on the back.