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Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty

Article  in  Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) · March 1997

DOI: 10.1176/ps.48.3.404

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BOOK REVIEWS Jeffrey L. Geller, M.D., M.P.H.

Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty though many weighty issues are con-
by Roy F Baumeister, Ph.D.; New York City, W H. Freeman and Company, sidened in this book, they are dis-
1996, 4l7pages, $24.95 cussed selectively, when they sup-
port a particular assertion, and are
Leigh W. Jerome, Ph.D. not pulled together in a satisfying
way. Consequently, contradictions
W is there evil? The question The second phenomenon, the and loose threads abound.
resonates with more than acad- “myth ofpune evil,” is the contention For example, Baumeisten speaks in
emic curiosity. People struggle with that there are people and forces that one chapter about the danger of re-
this issue because when violence and seek to do harm, without motive, to sponding passively to an evil act. Pas-
cruelty are encountered in daily life, innocent victims-gratuitously de- sivity has the effect ofcondoning evil
one’s fundamental assumptions about riving enjoyment from the suffering and thereby perpetuating it. In a lat-
the world are challenged. and chaos that are inflicted. This en chapter, however, when the author
Roy Baumeister’s book explores perennial image of evil is perpetuat- condemns the tyranny of China, he
the roots of evil, offering an examina- ed by individuals, the media, and re- does not discuss the passive stance
tion of the subject apart from moral- bigion. taken by the United States. More-
istic musings. When evil acts are en- Baumeister cleanly presents the over, in several instances a nationabis-
countered, moral outrage is a natural magnitude gap and the myth of pure tic bias is noted at the expense of con-
response. Identification and empathy evil as defensive strategies enabling sistency.
with the victim’s point ofview are au- people to separate “us” from “them” The author’s discordant style is
tomatic. Baumeister urges the reader and find reassurance when evil most disturbing when he denounces
beyond this vantage point, seeking to threatens a comfortable world view. self-esteem as a major component of
discern the essential nature of evil. This perspective presses the reader evil. Again, Baumeister begins with
To accomplish his task, Baurneister to reevaluate and confront the nature an interesting point for considera-
incorporates historical, political, and of evil from an objective stance. It is tion: that people who commit evil
psychological factors into the analysis the strength of Baumeisten’s work. acts tend to have unrealistically high
as well as examining the perpetna- Baumeister moves the book along opinions of themselves and when
tor’s point ofview. He combines pro- by sketching interesting stories to il- they are attacked, they respond with
vocative inquiry with colorful stories, lustrate his points. Unfortunately, the disproportionate retaliation. Rather
producing a highly readable volume. scientific value of the book is corn- than presenting a deeper analysis of
Evil is a construct that is prone to promised by his frequent use of anec- these troubling characteristics, Bau-
stereotyping and exaggeration. Bau- dotal evidence rather than a reliance meisten arbitrarily labels this cluster
meisten carefully outlines two related on empirical research. For instance, of traits as “high self-esteem.” In do-
phenomena that limit an accurate un- Baumeisten points out the necessity ing so, he lumps together discrepant
derstanding of evil. The first lens of considering the robe that victims character styles. He does not signifi-
through which evil is filtered is the may play in the perpetuation of their cantly discriminate individuals with
“magnitude gap.” The magnitude gap own violent cycle. This consideration narcissism, sociopathy, and grandios-
describes the discrepancy between is potentially a valid one, but the au- ity from individuals who maintain an
the importance of an evil act to the thor overstates the case. He asserts internal locus of control and a well-
victim and the importance of the that instances of innocent victims’ integrated, stable sense ofself. An ab-
same act for the perpetrator. The im- being harmed are relatively rare. sence of guilt and the flourishing of
portance is almost always greater for Rather than providing statistics that high self-esteem are declared causal
the victim. Someone who has been may bean out his assertion, Baumeis- agents in the perpetuation of evil.
the victim of a cruel or violent event ten cites personal stories and anecdo- Baumeister supports this view with
is likely to have a more substantial tab accounts as proof for these suppo- the indictment that a sharp rise in
emotional response than does the sitions. Certainly, there are many ac- African-American violence toward
perpetrator. The discrepancy shades counts of muggings, incest, burglary, Caucasians is seen to coincide with
the interpretation of what has taken and societal oppression that would movements aimed at raising pride
place. \Vhat has been traumatic for support the opposite belief. That is and self-esteem in the black commu-
and is considered evil I)y the victim the danger of anecdotal evidence. nity. Not only does Baumeisten con-
may be a relatively minor memory for In addition, Baumeister’s assen- fuse correlation with causality and
the perpetrator. So, surmises Bau- tions often rely on generalizations, markedly oversimplify the issue, but
meister, evil is in the eye of the be- simplistic definitions, and flawed log- he does not demonstrate that the
holder. ic, which reduces the viability of his variable labeled self-esteem is the
arguments rather than confirming same factor that is being discussed in
Dr Jerome is chief of psychology at them, even when the essence of an both instances. The author does not
Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe. argument has an intuitive validity. Al- allude to the complexities inherent in

404 PSYIllATRIC SERVKES . March 1997 Vol. 48 No.3

 BOOK REVIEWS
class struggle, address global eco- United States, the country will have a all of the most productive areas of
nomic forces, or entertain alternative high rate of crime and violence. neurobiological research on violence
explanations. He muddles the issue Baumeister raises some thoughtful of the last 20 years.
by defining high self-esteem as and provocative questions, and his Neurobiology of Violence is cleanly
equaling inflated, fragile, and unreal- stories are compelling. However, as written, interesting, not overly techni-
istic self-evaluations and then holds the author himself sternly counsels, cab, and well organized. The single-
up this definition as proof that high objectivity is paramount in the consid- author format affords a continuity of
self-esteem leads to increases in enation of this difficult topic. In the writing style that is absent in most ma-
rape, violence, and evil in general. end, the preponderance offlawed log- jor recent books on violence, which
He concludes that as bong there are ic and selective reasoning overshad- are edited works with multiple au-
efforts to raise self-esteem in the ows the value of Baumeisten’s book. thors. The book will be ofinterest to a
broad audience including both health
professionals and those involved with
the justice system who wish to be in-
tnoduced to the main topics and find-
Neurobiology of Violence ings of recent neurobiological ne-
by/an Volavka, M.D., Ph.D.; Washington, D. C., American Psychiatric Press, search on violence.
1995, 398pages, $54
Reference
Dale E. McNlel, Ph.D. 1. Daly M, Wilson M: Evolutionary social psy-

S cientific understanding of biobogi- topics. In each domain, Dr. Volavka chology

242:159-524,
and family
1988
homicide. Science

cal aspects of aggressive behavior briefly describes main issues that have
has grown substantially in recent been the focus of research, followed
years. In this single-author book, Dr. by description of two on three repre-
J an Vobavka reviews major areas of ne- sentative studies, leading to a few
search in the neurobiology of vio- summary statements. The author does Tinder-Box Criminal
lence. Dr. Vobavka is well qualified for not attempt to make a detailed review Aggression: Neuropsy-
the task, having published extensively ofthe literature in any ofthe areas, but chology, Demography,
on the topic for more than 20 years. he references such reviews for the
Phenomenology
He brings both extensive research ex- reader interested in more specific and
by NatbanielJ. Paione, Ph.D., and
perience and a depth of understand- detailed information. His presentation
JamesJ. Hennessy, Ph.D.; New
ing ofthe clinical aspects of evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of re- Brunswick, NewJersey, Transaction
and treatment of violent patients. search in each area is balanced and Publishers, 1996, 401 pages, $39.95
The book begins with a discussion of thoughtful, giving consideration to
definition and classification of aggres- conflicting research findings. He Danny Wedding, Ph.D., M.P.H.
sion and violence, followed by a lucid avoids the simplistic generalizations
review of aggression among animals. that sometimes plague authors who P albone and Hennessy’s Tinder-
Subsequent chapters cover contribu- are primarily identified with particu- Box Criminal Aggression is a fas-
tions of neurochemistry, neurology, ban biological on psychosocial ap- cinating, provocative, and challeng-
neunopsychobogy, and electrophysiobo- proaches to violence. ing book. It is also likely to be a con-
gy to understanding violence. The au- As Dr. Vobavka acknowledges, ne- trovensial work insofar as it attempts
thor then reviews congenital, develop- search on violence has been impeded to link recent developments in the
mental, and demographic issues. The by the absence of a general unified neurosciences with contemporary
remaining halfofthe book summarizes theory. However, research investigat- criminology to produce a comprehen-
research on psychopathology and vio- ing more specific and limited do- sive model for criminal aggression. In
lence, incbuding personality disorders mains, such as neurotransmitters or short, the authors propose a “stepwise
and impulse control problems, psy- personality disorders, has been quite progression from neurogenic-based
choactive substance abuse, and violent productive. This book reviews many impubsivity to criminally aggressive
behavior of mentally disordered per- of the areas in which a significant behavior.”
sons in the hospital and in the commu- body of knowledge has accumulated. Nathaniel Palbone and James Hen-
nity. Finally, psychopharmacological Of course, one book cannot cover all nessy are professors of psychology at,
treatment of violence is discussed. areas of study. For example, Dr. Vobav- respectively, Rutgers University and
Each chapter covers several major ka curiously omits the recent work of
sociobiologists (1), who posit an un-
Dr Wedding is professor ofpsychiatry at
derstanding of human violence based
Di: McNiel is associate adjunct professor the School ofMedicine at the University of
on evolutionary theory, and he largely Missouri-Columbia and director of the
ofpsychology in the department ofpsychi-
atry at the University of California, San neglects family violence research. Missouri Institute ofMental Health in St.
Francisco. Nevertheless, he does touch on nearly Louis.

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