Written by: Aadar Timalsina - 29046, Grade VII
Posted on: 13 February, 2024
In the history of human civilization, one question stands out to me the most. Why do humans kill each other? Why do they fight? Aren't we supposed to be intelligent creatures? If yes then why do we do something that makes a downfall to the human species? From ancient tribes to modern acts of terrorism and crimes, the act of killing has grown more across time, culture, and geography. But why? What makes individuals commit such grave crimes against their fellow friends? To study about this we need to dive deep into the complex psychological, social, and environmental factors of us humans.
At the core of this article lies human nature itself. While humans can have empathy, cooperation, and compassion, they also find themselves with a capacity for violence. Psychology suggests that aggression, in certain contexts, might have advantaged the survival of our ancestors. In the struggle for resources, territory, or mates, those who were willing to resort to violence may have gained an advantageous edge. Though modern society has largely made these issues less severe, there is still emotion of hatred and anger inside a human's psychology. Even though we are in modern society yet, reducing the urge to kill completely to humans would be overly simplistic and that would be almost impossible. The human mind is a laboratory of thoughts, emotions, and experiences so these factors can affect any human. Psychologists have long studied the factors that result in violent behavior. Scientists have found out that from childhood trauma and bad upbringing to untreated mental illness and personality disorders are the results of the scientists. For some individuals, a combination of these factors can create a perfect storm, and that storm wipes out all empathy and decision making.
Social dynamics also play an important role in creating attitudes towards violence. Our society's trend of resolving conflict is through aggression or violence and it is glorified and normalized. Such factors are absorbed by individuals making their nature. Similarly, factors such as poverty, inequality, and systemic injustice lead to revenge. Furthermore, the influence of cultural and historical context cannot be understated. Wars fought in the name of ideology, religion, or nationalism have claimed countless lives throughout history, highlighting the combination of belief systems and power dynamics in violence. Likewise, the creation of Weapons technology has made killing more efficient and easy. The weapons can easily satisfy the hunger of revenge of an individual so it seems more tempting and creates more violence in the human society. There are motivational factors behind the attitude of being violent. Social psychology shows the impact of situational factors on behavior. It illustrates how an ordinary individual can influence to commit acts of violence under certain circumstances. Factors such as peer pressure can lead to violence in human society.
Despite our learning in human behavior, the question of why people kill each other remains as a vast puzzle with no easy answers. The motivations are as diverse and complex as the open ocean. Our emotions lead to violence and that emotions are motivated by several factors, but there are some cases which contradict the studies of psychologists but in my opinion since the newer generations are getting both emotionally and socially weaker. The war is yet to come and that war very well might just be the biggest war the human kind has seen and it might wipe out 50% of human beings.
