When we acknowledge how our human experience has been replete with violence the belief that humans are naturally anti-social can seem justified. Consider some events from the past 300 years—
Tens of thousands gather in Paris in 1757 to watch the condemned man Robert-François Damiens who attempted to assassinate King Louis XV be slowly tortured to death; Native Americans were systematically forced from their homes and exterminated; Africans were kidnapped and tortured into submitting to merciless, lifelong inter-generational servitude.
As recently as within the past one hundred years in the US, mobs of white people might gather, as if to enjoy an outdoor picnic, to watch an accused black man be violently killed. The 20th century also included brutal events such as the Soviets causing the starvation of nearly 4 million Ukrainians. The record of war crimes from WW2 alone can fill entire libraries: including the mass murder of millions of innocent civilians, brutal experiments performed on Jews by Nazi scientists, the systematic extermination of millions of Jews and others, and Japanese soldiers raping and massacring as many as 300,000 Chinese citizens in Nanking.
Whether victimizing individuals or entire groups, humans have proven themselves capable of committing appalling atrocities. If a healthy human is naturally inclined toward an ultra-social nature, a natural empathic response, being cooperative and caring, experiencing an elevated feeling when those around them are joyful, and a diminished feeling in the face of suffering, then what can possibly account for such horrendous behavior? Any serious discussion about human nature must address this key question.
Unaware of the relevant social science and neuroscience, when most people witness others acting in an unkind, aggressive, or hurtful manner, they assume that this behavior is indicative of our true human nature. What they are actually witnessing are people whose human potential has not been fully activated due to the absence of one or more crucial factors. These factors include, a healthy genetic makeup, sufficient developmental support of key needs while growing up, basic resources for life needs, and a society not premised upon the pitting of one group against another. When people enjoy such conditions, their natural inclination toward cooperative and caring behavior will be strong, however, the absence of any one factor make the chances of producing a fully actualized person drastically reduced. And sadly, most people have not had such benefits.
Receiving faulty genes that reduce the ability to empathize or sincerely care about others is statistically rare — sociopaths, psychopaths, and narcissists comprise less than between 1 to 3 percent of the general population, so while faulty genes might explain some antisocial behavior and violence, it fails to account for its pervasiveness.
Without the benefits of a nurturing, loving, intellectually stimulating developmental environment that was safe and secure, most people will not be able to function to their fullest human potential, regardless of having healthy genes. And, thus far in our world, incredibly few people have received such comprehensive developmental support.
Considering what people need to express their fullest potential, it is most likely that the vast majority who have ever lived have not had their human potential optimized. During their years of critical development most people are more likely to experience neglect, deprivation, or abuse, than receiving the freedom from material deficiency, unconditional love, and intellectual stimulation, vital for the fullest expression of their human potential. And should the relatively few people lucky enough to get their developmental needs met one day experience a sufficiently damaging ordeal, they too could have their human potential drastically reduced. This condition is evidenced in post-traumatic stress and other mental health disorders.