Thanks for opening this thread and I would really love to hear your thoughts on this. Here is the question..... Are we humans basically nice and friendly naturally or is this just a superficial act that is needed for us to fit into normal society.And we in reality are really much more of a serious unfriendly and selfish nature and subconsciously look at others as really just a threat to our well being or not in most cases other than family and close friends.
I can't remember the specific studies or that because it was pretty long ago I read this, but apparently most experts agree that the only thing really separating us from the animals is empathy.
humans are tribal animals, so a certain degree of cooperation and predisposition towards helpfulness is natural. self-awareness however screws everything up, as does language, both in terms of actually screwing everything up, and in terms of being able to analyze it.
People are naturally nice (we wouldn't be where we are if we weren't) but like in all things there are limits and exceptions that often overshadow the masses.
I haven't figured out a really good response to this.I personally think it is completely situational and the modern world may not be an actual true portrait of what a human is by nature. But I have noticed that when times are hard or things get scarce people really tend to get mean and violent. Of course it's better to be friendly and not a mean natured person but I think the effort to be a nice person takes more than people realize. And it is more of trying to be a good actor than actually a true friendly nature that comes without even second thought.
so through history all the slavery and wars murders in gangs and cults, prejudices and racism all the people killed by genocide or angry wives and husbands that have lashed out, do you still think we a naturally nice? or is it like instinct to survive? so the majority live peacefully and on the whole without intrusion apart from deceitful governments and major corporations that watch our every move control all the power, lie to us, smile at us and say what we want to hear but behind closed doors supply army's with tools for genocide and murder just so they can capitalize and profit from destruction as people turn a blind eye so in the long run the rich are richer and more untouchable. we created money and capitalism, Communism, democracy yet we don't really do any properly accept chase money because we are like rats in a race gotta get that "cheese". people aren't "naturally nice" we learn and evolve our teachings effect our children and there children we all have empathy but some choose not to use it, its not black and white, we are not nice or bad we just ... are! decisions in life make us into kids from babies into children and teens, from adults to elders and those same decisions make us good or bad (mental illnesses aside) saying are we good i'd say no, do we have the capacity to be good i'd say yes!
To my way of thinking the definition is.A friendly and cordial social type who is basically helpful and not just self absorbed or self concerned.And also has a real concern for the welfare of others and not a phony baloney.Who would go a bit out of their way to help a stranger in a random situation.Best I can do on the definition so many different people here it has so many meanings the word nice
ok then. i will answer that with, not necessarily, and not commonly, afaik, BUT people can be raised to be that way naturally, or become so later in life, just that it doesn't appear to happen often.
Taken from http://www.psychologytoday.com/arti...e-the-people-pleaser-may-i-serve-your-doormat Also, I'm not sure if this helps, but i remember that their are two types of "niceness" in people. One is egoism, the other altruism. Egosim is when you help another and expect a reward, externally (like getting a gift back) or internally (like feeling good inside or having a sense of connection). Altrusim (which is still being debated whether or not exists) is where people help another with absolutely no interest or concern in getting repaid. Not really or expert or anything. Just remember reading this stuff somewhere.
That is really good info I think this is a friend of mines problem a habitual people pleaser.That article is like a light being turned on in a dark room
I believe at the most basic level man is no different than wolves. We work together when its necessary and co-beneficial but if we had our 'druthers' we for the most part would lie, cheat, steal, kill, do whatevers necessary to survive. Our current culture doesn't require us to fight for survival in most cases but think how the world would be in a post apocolyptic environment. Kind of a Mad Max world. Do we band together for good or for evil? Depends on who's got the food I suppose. Its convenient for us to be polite to each other and co-exist in relative peace, but like a dog or cat that goes feral, after two or three generations of fighting for our food and warmth, what would we as a civilization look like? Probably not very civilized. I did a masters paper on this very subject, what a great topic!
Thanks for your reply.... If a social breakdown of law enforcement and or normal society occurred which in some places in the world as we speak is happening. A grouping or banding together of individuals is probably 100% needed for survival. So the bands that form would secure weapons and try to secure an area of some safety.The mentality I would guess at first would have a left over value system of the their recent past civilized society.Nice and law abiding shall we say And gradually the reality of the need for a dog eat dog mentality for other than who is in their particular tribe/band/group would become first priority I assume. I bet your paper you did on this subject was interesting btw
