Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors

Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors

Compared with most animals, we humans engage in a host of behaviors that are destructive to our own kind and to ourselves. We lie, cheat and steal, carve ornamentations into our own bodies, stress out and kill ourselves, and of course kill others. Science has provided much insight into why an intelligent species seems so nasty, spiteful, self-destructive and hurtful.

-- LiveScience Staff and Contributors

10. Gossip
09. Gamble
08. Stress Out
07. Nick Tuck Plump Tattoo
06. Bully
05. Lie
04. Cheat
03. Steal
02. Crave Violence
01. Bad Habits

LiveScience

I found this fascinating in it's simplicity and impact venue. While I deal with these human traits on a daily basis in my Real Life Career, only on a personal level can we ever admit to ourselves how many of these traits apply to each and every one of us.

In all honesty, I can see all of them being applicable to myself at some point in my life, some more prevalent in my youth, others far more as I grow older.

I would also postulate that not all are completely destructive. In fact, I would say, some are actually formative; maybe not positive, but formative in many ways and perhaps necessary to adapt to the societal norms of today.

The link gives you a "Start Here" button that takes you to a page that examines each attribute I have listed, in detail, along with subsequent links that take you to reports that are more in depth on each subject.

Semper

Nice topic.

Lets make your list a little shorter.

1. Pride.
2. Greed.
3. Jealousy.

And Ego for a perfect, use of them.
Easily to obtain all other bad habbits from those 3.

Let's shorten it further... with all due to respect to the earlier versions of the list...
1. Sexual appetite (and all the weird offshoots of that)
2. Material greed.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


I agree

And perhaps Ego should head your list as the initiator for all the others



I also wonder how much of this do we "see" on forum boards such as these?

It is an interesting psychological concept for sure

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


I don't think it's possible to avoid humanities most basic instincts.

After all. The 7 deadly sins, as Church tagged them. Are the best possible qualities needed for survival.

To bad our Ego prevents most people from reasoning and when it's time for their assistance in life.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


Avoid them? I agree no

But how successful can we be in "Controlling" them?

Isn't that what society really demands, that we control our baser instincts?

How many times have we all be so mad at someone that we want to kill them, and yet we do not? For many reasons. Consequences, Morals, Fear to just name three.

Semper

And what about murder?


Wars are about starvation and murder.

That is what men are about - women are about nurturing - more men to fight? Yes, and more cannon fodder - imagine being a baby boy - you are born as cannon fodder because the world does not care about you, you become cannon fodder.

reply to post by kawacat


Murder is covered

02. Crave Violence

Murder being a violent action

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


Yes. Control is important. It depends a lot on the way of life and where it's based on and originated from.

We always keep our own western lifstyle, with it's values and moral believes. Forgetting, people with a different back ground in life, are far from sharing the same standards we do.

It's like... The news wrote last week about a Turkish girl, burried alive. Her own family did this to her, believing she brought dis honor to the family for having male friends.
These kind of murders are based on a regional honor system, making this fully acceptable, by their way of life.
We usually blame these kinds of murder on the Muslim way of life. However a Muslim from Marrokko, would never use these extreme meassures. It's even so imbedded in the region, even Christian families also use the same honor based system. We never hear about it because the majority in the region is Muslim.

I think it is one of our other survival instincts , is responsible for our difficulties controling civilisid behaviour.

Fear !
The most easy and powerfull emotion, to be corrupted.
The achilles heal of mankind.

It makes us act like paranoid idiots. Ironic is to say, our other instincts are responsible for making us use it, to control others.

If fear did not have the effects it has.
Socieity as we know it would be without all our laws and ways for and to control. We would simply not except this.
Fear makes us demanding for it.

Well... This is what I've come up with anyway.

The path to evil.

Indifference

Greed

Arrogance

Hypocrisy

reply to post by poet1b


Indifference ?

Will you explain why ? hypocrisy I believe to be also more of a consequence then a cause.

Maybe I'm wrong.