Nature Vs Nurture

[Soubriquet]

Do you think anyone is ever born evil/bad natured or do you think it’s the environment that did it?

I do not think anyone is born evil. Nor do I think anyone is born with a mental disorder. Some may be predisposed to react a certain way to external events, which means two children can have the same upbringing but one will struggle to deal with it depending on whatever they are predisposed to. I'm not sure how well I articulated that point but I'm certain no one is born evil.

I can't agree anyone is born evil.
Some people become irredeemable which is a tragedy.

Deffo both - but as a mother to twins I can tell you nature has a lot more control than any of us are willing to admit!

Lack of empathy is associated with quite a few mental illnesses, and it certainly is something that happens naturally.

However just because someone lacks or struggles with empathy doesn't meant they are going to become a criminal or a murderer.

The most important thing is if they are raised in an environment that teaches kindness and right from wrong. It's when they aren't raised in that environment that they can become "evil".

Lots of people struggle with empathy and are fully-functioning and contributing members of society.

I agree with the first reply. No one is born evil. People have raised likelihood of developing mental health issues which can cause certain behaviours and the nurture element of parenting can affect outcome hugely here.

(TW - violence!)

However I once dealt with a child murderer who came from a lovely family, his sibling was absolutely fine, but he developed psychological issues, started off by torturing animals and eventually, tragically, killed and dismembered a fellow school girl.