Phirun 1

Sophal Phirun (Ted)

Dr. Salazar-Romo
ESL 33B
3 Match 2016
Evil Pathology
Every day in life, there are many sequence and events relating to what people believe to
be right and wrong. Since the day you are born, it is impossible to absorb the environment to
create someone to be another person. To me, evil is part of emotional belief relating to humanity
that causes the effect to other. How do psychologists understand such transformation of human
behavior? Why did Hitler become a ruthless genocide leader in the world and committed an act
showing no mercy to human life and hunt down Jewish religious people? When it comes to
defining the truth about evil, there are tremendous explanations and thoughts in every aspect in
the world.
To begin with, according to H. Fenchel who stated the existence of the concepts of good
and evil can found in most human beings as they define their relationship to the universe and to
each other. There needs to be a duality for the sake of definition and therefore human beings live
life within such duality. Neither concept can exist without reference to other. Whether we define
the polarities in religious terms that foreshadow what may become of us when our earthly
existence is terminated or define it in existential terminology, polarities drive us as long as we
are live(86). The author believes that each and every one of us are born as a harmless human
being, but the evil is part of us whom created it in ourselves because of what we belief and turn
the thought of evil in us in to actions. H. Fenchel points out that we can only be certain of one

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fact: human nature is expressed with exhibited affect most of the time. The emotions most
universally exhibited are joy, grief, excitement and sympathy (84). As we explored the aspect
define of evil from one prospective, and now we move on to the next definition of good and bad.
Pursuing this further, the word evil offers variety of lesson. Its use as a foundation
theological or philosophical principle relates to human being. More people have let go of their
faith and belief because of the evil problem. Ervin Staub, Presidential column, contends that to
me, evil means great human destructiveness. Evil can come in an obvious form such as a
genocide. Or it can come in a smaller acts of persistent harm doing, the effects of which
accumulate, like parents being hostile and punitive, or a child being picked on by peers day after
day for a long time(Ph.1). The author emphasizes that, what is the role of psychology in
relation to goodness and evil? One obvious role is to study the influences that lead to great or
persistent acts of harm or benefit. We can study the psychological processes, such as anger,
hostility, the devaluation of people, empathy or its absence, and a feeling of responsibility for
others welfare, that make a person act in destructive or caring ways(Ph.2). From time to time
human beings emerge because of the lack of empathy when we are connected, and we become
more offensive and emotional.
Dr. Philip George Zimbardo, A psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford
University, demonstrates that There are three ways of human character define evil. The main
way is called dispositional. We look at whats inside of the person, the bad apple. Second,
Situational: External: the bad barrel, and the third one is Systematic: Broad influences: political,
economic, legal power: the bad barrel- makes. Dr. Zimbardo also mentioned that This is the
foundation of all of social science, the foundation of religion, the foundation of war. Social
psychologist like me come along and say, Yeah, people are the actors on the stage, but youll

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have to be aware of the situation. Who are the cast of characters? Whats the costume? Is there a
stage director? And so were interested in what are the external factors around the individual,
the bad barrel? The power is in the system, the system creates the situation that corrupts the
individuals, and the system is the legal, political, economic, cultural background. And this is
where the power is of the bad-barrel makers. If you want to change a person, change the
situation. And to change it, youve got to know where the power is, in the system. What do the
people bring into the situation? What does the situation bring out of them? And what is the
system that creates and maintains that situation. Zimbardo The psychology of evil. TED.
February 2008. Lecture.
Based on my personal experience from my home country define a bitter story of evil
effect people lives and trauma stress disorder. Tyner, Sirik, and Henkin justifies that between
1975 and 1979, approximately two million people were killed in the Cambodia genocide. The
Communist Part of Kampuchea (CPK better known as the Khmer Rouge) is considered one of
the most brutal and repressive regimes of the twentieth century. Between April 17, 1975, and
January 6, 1979, the CPK carried out a program of organized mass violence that resulted in the
death of approximately two million people. Upwards of one million died from direct violence:
torture, murder, and execution. The remainder dead from starvation-related causes, lack of
medical care, exposure, and exhaustion. The authors comments that There is a second and
equally important component of CPK administrative practice that bears on the geographic
manifestation of violence. It is well documented that many building were demolished by the
Khmer Rouge, or employed for other uses. Many banks and other governmental buildings were
destroyed, while religious structures, for example, were used as armories or granaries. This CPK
practice, however, was again not indiscriminate. Instead, the socio-spatial organization of

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activities, whether economic or military, was determined by two factors: conversion and
continuity (282). My mom has been a victim of this cruel genocide era under a leader that killed
its own people. She described being young during that time, and being assigned to harvest the
rice and cooking. She mentioned that everyone didnt have enough food and supplies except
those working with the CPK. CPK taught kids to use guns and brainwashed them in order to
belong to the CPK. She witnessed cold blood armies killings of innocent people for no reason or
for being accused of not listening to the leader. Everyone in that era had to dress in black color,
and they culdnt betray the order. Lacks of food and rest made peoples sneak outside at night
attempting to find fruit on trees, or hunt any insect or animals they could possibly find. If they
were caught by CPK they would be told that they would be moved to another shelter in another
province. This was an obvious lie since they were executed. People were forced to move outside
the city and live in the province and kept the city for their prison and personal uses. Smart and
knowledge people such as government or those who used to have previous education from
abroad would be executed as well.
This genocide era compared to Dr. Zimbardo definition is related to systematic or the
barrel maker because the leader of CPK named Pol Pot use the strategy as a leader and killed
any smart individual to gain his dominance and create his own empire. Such army and people
that followed him should listen and respect him as a leader. I believed that Pol Pot is the only
dictator who went against his own race and enjoyed the killing spree of two millions people.
To wrap it all up, evil follows everywhere, and everyday, from the happiest country to the
poorest country. Evil changes every aspect of a human being and their lives, from becoming a
better person with good intentions or a bad person with evil intentions. The notion of evil will
never disappear and it all started from human act.

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Worked Cited
Fenchel, Gerd H. "Good And Evil." Issues In Psychoanalytic Psychology 35.1 (2013): 78-87.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
Georgescu, Peter. Understanding the Meaning of Evil. Huffpost Religion. 28 March, 2013.
Web. 3 March. 2016.
Staub, Ervin. Good and Evil and Psychological Science. Association For Psychological
Science. Vol. 14. May/June, 2001. Web. 3 March. 2016.
Tyner, James, Savina Sirik, and Samuel Henkin. "Violence And The Dialectics Of Landscape:
Memorialization In Cambodia." Geographical Review 104.3 (2014): 277-293. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
Zimbardo, Philip. The psychology of evil. TED. February 2008. Lecture.