Apparently, human beings are biologically oriented to the sociability, empathy and care of others, only then can we survive as a group and progress as a species, however, if we know anything is that human evil exists and, in fact, we now know a common origin that explains it and that scientists have categorized it as factor D.
Evil has many faces. Philip Zimbardo, social psychologist and former president of the American Association of Psychology (APA), points out that there is more to this behavior than the simple desire to degrade, humiliate, control and harm our fellowmen.
- In history.
- For example.
- We have characters as dark as Ted Bundy and Andrei Chikatilo.
- Mass murderers like Hitler or Stalin.
- And also those who.
- Like Charles Manson.
- Were evil writers.
- Characters who encouraged others to commit violent crimes.
Now, evil is dark, silent, and often not as impressive as the dramatic stories these mythical names leave in police literature. Because if there is one thing we all know, it is that evil is also seen in some closer figures: in business leaders, in political spheres, in those parents who mistreat their children, and even in those children who torment, humiliate and attack their children. classmates.
We are aware, however, that there may be several conditions capable of mediating in these aggressive dynamics, however, neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists have always wondered if there could be a common axis that explains most of these behaviors.
Vraisemblablement. Il not so long ago, scientists from the University of Ulm and koblenz-Landau University in Copenhagen published an interesting study to introduce into the specialized literature a term that we will surely hear about (if we have not yet heard it) : Factor D. This concept would gather and describe all the behaviors of the darkest nucleus of the human personality. Let’s look at more information.
“Anyone who fights monsters should be careful not to become a monster as well. When you look at an abyss for a long time, does the abyss look at you?. – Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche-
More than 100 years ago, psychologist Charles Spearman pushed for a fundamental advance in understanding human intelligence, so, according to this approach known as bifactorial theory, each of us has what is called factor g, understood as the general intelligence that brings together our set of cognitive abilities.
Whatever test is applied or the exercises we do, this construction is the basic essence of intelligent behavior in any situation, however particular. Now, based on this very idea, cognitive psychologist Morten Moshagen, of ulm University, decided, with his colleagues, to go further?
They decided whether in the field of human evil, as in intelligence, there is also a general factor present in all of us, a factor in which some people have higher scores and others less so, after conducting a detailed and thorough study with a great breadth. 2,500 people, the results were significant.
There seems to be a general component they called factor D, made up of 9 dark traits, in which only people with perverse and aggressive behavior get higher scores.
Factor D defines the psychological tendency to put one’s own interests, desires or motivations above all other aspects, and similarly covers the broad spectrum of behaviors that make up human evil.
It should be noted that in addition to the study carried out by the aforementioned team of psychologists of the Universities of Copenhagen, four other analyses were carried out to support the reliability and validity of Factor D in all of us.
Therefore, we have another resource to measure human evil that can also be supplemented with the scale of Michael Stone, this well-known tool to measure 22 degrees of damage to people’s behavior.
Let’s see what the 9 factors determine to Factor D
Ingo Zettler, co-author of this research, points out that factor D can be understood as the dark personality that incorporates most of these traits.
People characterized by this factor also find justification in their own actions, as we can see, all these ideas leave out the possible neurobiological and social explanations that can determine these acts, so it would be a valuable psychological tool to identify and measure evil. .
Finally, however, a quote from Fyodor Dostoyevsky deserves to be remembered: nothing is easier than identifying the figure of the evil one, but nothing harder than being able to understand it.