Do you think people are basically good or basically bad?

The Bad Seed.

My son was definitely not born a blank slate, but he was born innocent.

All men are born for good and there is nothing evil.
......How then evil exist?
Evil exist because the first statement is not understood then the evil is created.
......Is the misunderstanding then the evil?
To those with it yes. But it is will not ultimately be so, neither was it so from the beginning. Once the misunderstanding is understood, then all evil ceases to be.
....so then what shall I do?
Free your neighbor from all evil and you would free yourself.
....But then surely that cannot work….
Then surely you shall continue to struggle to decipher between good and evil, which is detrimental to yourself.

I believe that most people are basically good.

all are born good, most stay good.

I think that it takes a lifetime to know oneself let alone anyone else.
Yes, I do think most people are basically decent, but I am also old enough and wise enough to know that we never really know what we, or anyone else, is capable of in any given circumstance. The odds of me going on a shooting spree are about one out of 80 trillion, but if I wake up with a rapist hovering over my bed I am pretty sure I could bite their nose off and gouge their eyes out with my fingernails.

In certain cases such as sociopathology there is plenty of evidence for the “Bad Seed” factor and while nurture may mitigate and keep in check some unacceptable behaviors the sociopathic brain IS just DIFFERENT, and there is nothing that can change that.
Whether they become corporate snakes in suits or Ted Bundys is anyones guess. haha

I think that people do know the difference between good and evil, but I think that a person becomes good or evil based on his/her environment. In the movie Blood Diamond, a man’s son is kidnapped by rebels when he is young. He is brainwashed into training for the rebel army and living an immoral lifestyle, and buys into it. A while later, he sees his dad again and calls him a criminal and calls the officials. He even points a gun at him later on in the movie, but eventually comes back to his senses. Obviously this is a dramatization, but I’m sure that there are real-life examples of this.

I believe people are born “good” but whether or not they stay that way is dependent upon their upbringing and environment.

Basically good. How can anyone think otherwise? I have heard there are genetics studies that can forecast aggressiveness in people but that doesn’t necessary mean they would be bad.

There is no such thing as good or bad. There is only What Works And What Doesn’t Work. Parents start teaching their children right from the very beginning, and most people have been trained to label certain behavior good, and other behavior bad.

I think people basically understand that we need to cooperate in order to survive. There are a few people who think they can go it alone and it doesn’t matter what they do to others in the process.

I will not use the terms good and bad because I don’t think normative judgments really help us.

Good within one tribe, biologically. The era of the hunters and gathers shaped our brain.

Good in complex societies, culturally, with good parenting.