What proportion of people are good, decent people, and are you a good person?

[BomboChipolata]

Based on threads we see here, a lot of people seem to be surrounded by awful people. I’d be interested in how people view their circle and how they see themselves.

My own view is that 90% of people are fundamentally good people, but they can be bitter or selfish from time to time. I’d put myself in that category.

how do you view people?

Are you a decent person?
What proportion of people are good people?

That depends on your definition of 'good,' which can mean lots of different things. Empathetic, generous, kind, intuitive, sympathetic, etc.
I think nearly everyone has positive and negative traits, and these show themselves when the person is in various situations. Nobody is all good or all bad. (Some names come to mind in the 'all bad' category though, such as Brady, Hindley, Bellfield) I can't think of any who comes into the 'all good' category.

I don’t think anyone is ‘good’. I think people behave badly or behave well depending on their circumstances, the situation etc. I believe anyone could do something ‘bad’ under the ‘right’ circumstances.

I don’t think I’m a particularly good person, I’ve never done anything terrible like murder, but I definitely have my moments and have behaved badly so some people would describe me as good and some as bad. Which I think is true of everyone - even murderers have people defending them, telling stories about their ‘good behaviour’ etc!

I think terms of good and bad are somewhat archaic in terms of human beings. It varies by geographical area, culture and upbringing I think.

What do you mean by good?

Honestly, I think very few people are 'good'.
I think we are complex, flawed and basically selfish animals and like the rest of the animal kingdom are primarily concerned with our own survival.

Yes, we have a veneer of civilisation but that's all it is.

Put people in the 'right' circumstances and we as a species are capable of terrible things. Demonise a group of people and turn on them is a consistent example throughout human history.

In a smaller way look how people behave when they are or believe they are anonymous.

Look at the foul things people say on the internet then consider that these are the same people you may well be interacting with on a daily basis and they are performing all the right social dances and you think they're a 'nice' person.

Free people from consequences entirely and I think you'd be shocked by how few 'good' people there are in the world.

What are the stats about nazi germany? I don’t know - it much more than 90% of people actively participated and many more watched and didn’t intervene.

Didn't answer your question 😁
No. I do not think I am a good person.
I perform the roles I am obliged to perform. I understand how society works. I understand what actions have what consequences and I modify my behaviour accordingly.

If I was given ten million quid and told to shoot you in the head without any consequences whatsoever, well, let's just say I could not rule out the possibility I'd be mourning you from my mansion. 🤷

I think I am now. I didn’t used to be.

Oh and I am fundamentally good - in that I would not actively seek to cause someone pain. But I have been unkind and done not nice things - but never to a significant degree.

i so think some people are fundamentally good, most people are fundamentally benign and what they do depends on the circumstances, and some people are fundamentally bad.

i try to surround myself with the fundamentally good people. Over time you can tell.

Am I good? Well, I work hard at my job, support charities, look out for my friends and do stuff in my community. BUT I am very intolerant of people I think are incompetent or just plain irritating. So, while I probably wouldn't shoot anyone, I'm no angel.

I think nearly all people have the capacity to do good, though not always in environments that encourage that capacity. Similarly, nearly all people have the capacity to do harm, especially if incentivized to do so with little risk to them.

I don't define myself as a good person. That's something other people can call me, but I've too many experiences with people who call themselves good for appearing good in environments where they're being rewarded for that appearance more than their impact.

it much more than 90% of people actively participated and many more watched and didn’t intervene

Very interesting use of statistics there

Nearly everyone is pretty selfish in some way, shape or form. Fundamentally we have to be selfish to survive though there is the altruism theory in evolutionary biology. (Sorry can't remember much about that)
Since I have had MH issues and become disabled I've come to realise that people expect to be rewarded for kindness maybe not always consciously. I fundamentally think people are not naturally kind.

We probably need a definition of good to be able to decide.

What classes as 'good'?

@ClaudiaWankleman ?? Well I don’t know if you’re good or not - but you are a dick.

it actually should have read “I don’t know if much more
than 90%…” - which was a reference to the 90% figure the OP referred to.

The sentence I actually posted didn’t even make sense so. It sure what you mean about interesting use of statistics?

i would also class someone who makes dickish comments about posts that don’t even make sense at high risk of not actually being good….

If I was given ten million quid and told to shoot you in the head without any consequences whatsoever, well, let's just say I could not rule out the possibility I'd be mourning you from my mansion

Could you say the same about a child?

Well I try to be a decent person, considerate of others etc, but not sure if that's enough. I do however find myself these days (post menopause) more likely to call out rudeness and bad behaviour, and I'm not sure that a truly decent person would do that. They'd probably ignore it?

Depends who is judging!

These answers are far too nuanced! I agree with most people that ‘good’ is pretty complex, and so context dependant.

Good is subjective.
I would say I'm ok, could be better. I'd guess most of the twats would say the same though, our morality makes a big difference.

I really do not think there is that many. I think a lot of people only think of themselves and this is encouraged by society. People were fighting in grocery stores during the pandemic!

Nobody is wholly good or wholly bad. A lot of disagreements are caused by personality clashes.

The majority of people are decent. Research suggests about a third would fiddle taxes, expenses, cheat but that means two-thirds wouldn't. Humans have a negative bias, inbuilt to keep us from danger, makes us exaggerate/amplify the negative.

Well I think it bears saying that a good person is not necessarily a nice one.

Nice people tend to be overly invested in making others like them and think of them as 'good.' I know of more than a few bitter, envious but outwardly nice people who will remember your children's birthdays and make a mental note of the last conversation that they had with you so that the next time they speak to you they can reference this.
So in my own experience and having had my fingers burned by nice people I mostly presume that they are quite manipulative and self serving although very adept socially. And there their niceness ends im afraid. They may make a show of buying you small token gifts in front of other colleagues to improve their cachet but they won't make themselves available to you when you need a friend.

Conversely I know good people who are crap at remembering birthdays and conversations but who will not attempt to manipulate themselves and by extension, you to remember small details.
Instead they will give you time to talk in your hour of need, offer their financial support to those in need, open their home to a refugee or down on their luck friend, regularly donate to the food bank or volunteer in their community etc and do all of this without making it known to the world at large. They do it because it is in their nature and not for social reasons.

I think there are more nice people than good ones by quite a fair proportion.

Those rare unicorns who are both honestly good and have the social skills to also be perceived as nice are in smaller proportion still. And I'm not one of them, I have the social skills of an inept grizzly bear but I really do my best to be good to others and to help them where I can and to sacrifice my own comfort for the good of those less fortunate than me as often as I possibly can without letting the world and his wife know that I am trying to do so.

If I was given ten million quid and told to shoot you in the head without any consequences whatsoever, well, let's just say I could not rule out the possibility I'd be mourning you from my mansion

If that isn't a joke then I find that unbelievably shocking. Your desire for money NEVER overrules someone else's right to life. You should never think that is an acceptable view to have.

Would the two thirds not do that because they’re good or because they fear getting caught/the consequences?