Scientists reveal strict criteria that make someone ‘bad’

Do you think you are bad? Science may tell you otherwise.

A new study, published as a pre-print paper on PsyArXiv, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, has revealed the strict criteria that make a person evil.

Over 2,000 people took part in questionnaires about what they thought it meant to be mean, allowing researchers to add to the dictionary definition.

The study, conducted by Breanna K. Nguyen, a cognitive scientist at Yale University, and Michael Prinzing, a psychologist at Baylor University, presented respondents with scenarios about fictional characters to assess perceived levels of malevolence.

The scientists found that people use two distinct sets of criteria to attribute “badness”—one concrete and one abstract.

A villain either has an “external toughness,” an “internal toughness,” or both.

“External resilience” is more superficial, consisting of physical strength, an “intimidating presence,” or both, while “internal resilience” consists of moral resilience, strength of character, and courage. Internal resilience also included resisting social pressure, doing the right thing, and facing difficult challenges.

Those who do not have external, superficial features can still “contain the deepest core of malice” with internal features.

Adjectives that were used to describe a nerd included “unafraid”, “tough”, “true”, “good”, “confident”, “brave”, “willing”, “independent” , “positive” and “capable”.

The dictionary definition of an evil has a negative connotation, but also a good one, lending to the researchers’ idea that evil is a “deeply strange concept”.

For example, Dictionary.com defines badass as “a bad or slightly scary person” as well as “someone or something you admire or find impressive.”

Now, researchers can expand the definition as over time it has come to mean more than it originally did.

“Therefore, the original meaning may be very negative, but the broader meaning may also include some positive qualities,” the authors wrote in the paper.

They added, “Radically different types of people, ranging from peaceful advocates to ferocious warriors, can each be considered evil.”

Some examples of perpetrators according to the paper include Genghis Khan, Mike Tyson, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, as well as Navy SEALs.

“While a warrior like Genghis is a paradigm of external toughness, Malala is a paradigm of this more abstract, internal toughness,” the paper says.