Human Nature: An Integrative Perspective

This lecture examined some of the characteristics we commonly share as human beings—such as ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. Are humans intrinsically good or bad? How do moral beings turn into evil individuals? Is the influence of hereditary factors more powerful than that of environmental influences? Various perspectives from the fields of developmental psychology, evolutionary psychology, sociology, biology, theology, and philosophy were discussed. The views of many writers, such as Aristotle, Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes, Freud, and Zimbardo, were also considered.