Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour

Human beings are capable of acts of enormous compassion and kindness, acts which may even involve altruistic self-sacrifice of one kind or another. Even in everyday life we have a striking propensity to be supportive to others, to offer comfort and help, to shape our behaviour for the good of the community. But at least some members of our species also display the opposite tendency: a propensity for violence, vandalism and theft, for social disorder. A few are capable of acts of grotesque cruelty which amount to evil.