Discussion»Questions»Human Behavior» Do vicious kids grow up to become vicious adults? Is vicious something that can be outgrown or is it set in stone? Why?
Take a kid throwing a rock at a bird for no reason. Many kids do this at some point. Most it's just them experimenting and trying to grasp mortality and actions. They do it, they see the damage and experience a surge of empathy and don't do it again. Some however find some twisted pleasure or allure to it and continue to do so and slowly destroy any small amount of empathic capabilities they may have had. It's to say thought the ones that do continue the behavior usually already have a diminished capacity for empathy due to genetics, environment, or both.
I have read that kids who torture animals are more likely to grow up to murder human. I don't know if that's true what it makes sense to me if it is. Thank you for your thoughtful analysis Glis! :)
It absolutely is. If it is a repeated pattern. Singular instances in young peoples life though is most often an ignorance of mortality and an experiment in it.
Benedict Arnold 