Summer Assignment

Zeke Parker

Mr. Combs

Course Number

12 / 5/ 2021

Why do People do Bad Things

Torture, murder, and killing for money, these are all things that people are willing to do for many reasons. This essay will cover many stories, experiments, and papers all to attempt to answer the question “why do people do bad things.” In most of the research/stories people will be doing, or at least think they are doing, “bad things.” Although others may argue that people only do bad things because they are bad people, in fact people do bad things because of authority, greed, and vindictiveness.

Furthermore, people do bad things because of a sense of authority. This can be seen in the Milgram Experiment, in this experiment people are given questions and if the question is wrong a person would get a “shock,” the shock being fake but the person answering questions does not know that. This supports how a sense of authority can cause people to do bad things because one of the subjects who wanted to stop giving the other person shocks objected to answering the questions. But even though he wanted to stop he kept going because the experiment instructor said that he should (Milgram Experiment). The way the experiment was conducted shows why people do bad things. This is because people feel an immense amount of pressure to do something when they feel that it is their duty to do it. In this experiment people felt that their duty was to answer the questions of the instructor even though they knew someone was getting hurt and they could stop at any time. But it was this pressure from the authority figure that made them keep going. Another example of why people do bad things because of figures of authority is because of the Stanford Prison Experiment. In this experiment people signed up for a experiment that they would be paid for, in this experiment people practically tortured people as doing there jobs as prison gaurds.(Stabdofrd Prison Experiment) This experiment shows how people are motivated to bad things because the people practically tortured the “prisoners” in the experiment because a figure of authority told them that this was a job and they were to act as if they were real guards, even though what they were doing was very morally wrong.

Secondly people are motivated to do bad things because of greed. This is seen in the story “button, button” where the main character Norma is offered 50,000 to push a button and kill a random person. A quote that perfectly exemplifies her greed is “If it’s some old Chinese peasant ten thousand miles away? Some diseased native in the Congo?” (Matheson) In this quote a tone of negotiation is demonstrated, this is seen through her dialogue with her husband trying to convince him that no one would care if a peasant in another country died. The tone she uses conveys her greediness because it shows how she is trying to convince Arthur (Norma’s husband) to side with her to press the button and do a morally terrible thing just for money. This is how people are motivated to do bad things because of greed. Another quote from Mathesons “button, button” that reinforces this claim is ““For $50,000,” Norma said.” This quote exhibits that norma is considering pressing the button, this is seen through her dialogue with Mr. Steward ( The person who offered the button ) were she basically ask Mr. Steward if it is 50,000, even though she already knows the amount. This is her way of justifying to herself that $50,000 is worth killing another person, and she is going to press the button. This is how greed can motivate people to do terrible things.

Lastly people are motivated to do bad things because of vindictiveness. This is seen in de Mille’s “Ruthless” were the main character Judson is planning to get revenge on a thief by killing him with posisne, this is seen in the quote “ Bourbon change into a lethal dose: “At least no one has found an antidote” The language used in this quote shows that he knows it is a “lethal” dose and it will kill the intruder. The language also shows vindictiveness because of Judson saying “no one has found an antidote” this laguinge means that he wants to make sure that the intruder will die, by choosing a poison that has no antidote. Another quote from “Ruthless” that backs up this claim is “ “Okay, my dear,” he smiled genially, “and don’t worry about your poor, abused little burglar. No one is going to get hurt who hasn’t got it coming to him.” This quote exhibits that he thinks the person who stole his possens deserves to die, this shows vindictiveness because he only wants to kill the person because he stole something from him. This vengeance explained in the last sentence is motivating him to do a terrible thing by killing a potential thief.

Others may argue that people do bad things just because they are bad people. They would use the evidence from the Brain Experiment by David Eagleman because in one part of the experiment: people have to push a man off the ledge to easily save 4 people but kill the man you. But this is not as simple as saving 4 people over 1 person. Because there is a physical contact with killing the person which makes the situation feel much more real than pulling a lever and saving four people. This sense of realness caused 100% of subjects not to push the man. This is why people don't just make bad decisions because they are bad people, there are many other factors involved.

In Conclusion people are motivated to do bad things because of avarice, vengeance, and a figure of authority. This is because when people are presented with opportunity or feeling like they have to, people can show sides of themself that are truly disgusting. You should take away from this essay that some people are not just “bad” because there are many other reasons why people can do morally wrong things. Because when you take a closer look at someone's situation you might even find that you are making these same bad decisions. Whether its for greed, power, or vengeance you are able to do bad things for countless reasons so before you judge people for making a bad decision would you make that decision as well?

Works Cited

DeMille, William. “Ruthless .” CommonLit, 1945, https://www.commonlit.org/en/students/student_lessons/9510617.

Matheson, Richard. “Button, Button.”, 1953, Button, http://jhampton.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/47378440/Button.

Zimbardo, Philip G, director. The Stanford Prison Experiment , https://www.prisonexp.org/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2021.

Milgram, Stanley, director. The Milgram Experiment, The Milgram Experiment. Accessed 5 Dec. 2021.

Foot, Philippa. The Trolley Problem . 1967.