The Psychological Power of Satan - Poster Quotes

The Psychological Power of Satan

ByPiercarlo Valdesolo

Some 70 % of Americans, according to a 2007 “Gallup Poll”, believe in devil not exist. Evil has been defined as taking pleasure in the intentional inflicting of harm on innocent others. Many of the formative thinkers in the field were inspired by their experiences with, and observations of, what appeared to most people at the time to be the indisputable incarnation of pure evil. The issue of whether “pure evil” exists, however, is separate from what happens to our judgments and our behavior when we believe in its existence. How can we measure people’s belief in pure evil (BPE) and what consequences does such a belief have on our responses to wrong-doers? Evil people are born evil – they cannot change. Two judgments follow from this perspective: 1) evil people cannot be rehabilitated, and 2) the eradication of evil requires only the eradication of all the evil people. Following this logic, the researchers tested the hypothesis that there would be a relationship between BPE and the desire to aggress towards and punish wrong-doers. Researchers have found support for this hypothesis across several papers containing multiple studies, and employing diverse methodologies. BPE predicts such effects as: harsher punishments for crimes (murder, assault, theft), stronger reported support for the death penalty, and decreased support for criminal rehabilitation. Follow-up studies corroborate these findings, showing that BPE also predicts the degree to which participants perceive the world to be dangerous and vile, the perceived need for preemptive military aggression to solve conflicts, and reported support for torture. The longer we cling to strong beliefs about the existence of pure evil, the more aggressive and antisocial we become.  And we may be aggressing towards individuals who are, in fact, “redeemable.”