Michael Martin
Since: 2007-10-16 12:42:16.079
Posts: 15
Posted at 2007-10-16 12:55:59.989. Permalink.
Hi, Judy;
You ask "Are we born with a conscience or is it bred into us?" The answer is - "It depends."
The vast majority of people (95 percent or more) are born with the capacity for empathy and enduring love, which are the foundations upon which conscience grows. If they are raised in stable and loving homes, their conscience will be well-formed by the time they go to school. If they come from unstable, dysfunctional or broken homes, their capacity to bond and empathise with others will suffer, to a greater or lesser degree. Early intervention (and the earlier and more decisive, the better) can help these children.
On the other hand, there are a small number of people (ranging from negligible to up to 5 percent of the population of any given country), who are born without the capacity to love or empathise. These are the psychopaths, and they often show their nature very early in life. Fire starting (pyromania) and cruelty to animals show up as early as age five with such children, and they are usually the worst bullies at school. Most of the truly shocking youth crimes are committed by this group.
Neurological research has proven that psychopathy is an organic, neurological condition, highly resistant to treatment. There is also strong evidence that psychopathy, like haemophilia and colour-blindness, is genetically transmitted via the X-chromosome. This would explain why this is overwhelmingly a male problem. (For more information about this subject, please see the Ponerology Website).
So - why are we seeing an apparent epidemic of unconscionable behavior in children? I think the answer is twofold. First, we are seeing more children from dysfunctional and broken homes that we used to, because of the liberalization of divorce laws and the increase of cohabitation at the expense of marriage. Both divorce and cohabitation are provably bad for children.
I also think that there are actually more young psychopaths than there used to be. As I see it, the sexual revolution of the last two generations has created an environment in which genetic psychopaths can breed like wildfire, either via serial rape, or by impregnating and abandoning one girlfriend after another. It is their offspring, whom we are seeing so much of in the news of late.
So, what is the answer? I don't have a complete solution, but I can think of some useful first steps.
First of all, we need to make sure we actually understand what the problem is before we try to solve it (I hope this post will contribute to that).
Second, we need to educate young people (and young women in particular) about how to detect and avoid psychopaths (and those with other intractable personality disorders), so they don't marry and have children with them. This needs to be part of the standard high school curriculum.
Third, we need to use robust psychometric screening tools (which do, in fact, exist) to identify young offenders who are psychopaths, as opposed to those who simply come from broken families. The treatment and intervention regimes will (and should) radically differ between the two groups.
At the end of the day, whether personality disorders like psychopathy are genetically transmitted or not, the fact remains that personality-disordered people make bad spouses and bad parents. Young people need to be taught how to make the right choices in forming families.
