Breaking Bad Syndrome: when a normal person becomes Heisenberg

The Breaking Bad Syndrome: how personal beliefs influence the way we behave.

Many violent acts are the result of the desire to "do good" as explained by two anthropologists in their provocative book called 'virtuous violence'. "Violent acts may seem unacceptable to most of society but they make sense and are necessary to those who engage in them. These people feel they have to make someone pay for their wrongdoing, teach a lesson, or instill obedience"argue the authors.

The book has its origins in research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)led by Alan Page Fiske and Tage Shakti Rai. Both researchers argue that most criminals and people who commit acts of violence follow the same pattern of behavior as the protagonist of the famous TV series "Breaking Bad" , and perform violent acts motivated by the desire to do good.and perform violent acts motivated by the desire to do good. In other words, it is quite common to exercise violence against others because they think that they are defending a moral cause..

Breaking Bad Syndrome: the influence of personal beliefs and violence

In the television series from which they were inspired, the protagonist Walter White becomes a drug dealer after learning that he is suffering from cancer. In his thinking, his duty as a father makes him enter the world of drug trafficking as he feels obliged to leave a good economic legacy to his family and obtain the necessary money to pay for his treatment.

"One's morality is not only about being good, polite and peaceful, but also includes the feeling that, in some cases, there is an obligation to do something regardless of the practical consequences," he explains in an interview with BBC World Alan Page Fiske, of UCLA's anthropology faculty.

The research data

According to the BBC article, Fiske and Rai's conclusions are the result of the analysis of hundreds of studies on violence against women. analysis of hundreds of studies on violence carried out in different parts of the world.. These, in turn, were made up of thousands of interviews with criminals. After reviewing all the data available to them, they found moral motivations behind even suicide, war and rape, although they admit that there are exceptions.Although they admit that there are exceptions that prove the rule. "Except for a few psychopaths, almost no one harms another with the intention of being evil," Fiske explains. The researcher clarifies, "that their study does not justify those who commit violent acts, but rather exposes the reasons why they do so".

In their book, Fiske and Rai give the example of people who mistreat their children or their partners. Despite the fact that from society's point of view they are wrong, they are convinced that they are doing the right thing. The perception that their victims must obey them is the result of their beliefs.

An example of the influence of beliefs on violent acts: the Nazis.

Before he became chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler was obsessed with ideas about race. In his speeches and writings, Hitler contaminated German society with his belief in the superiority of the "Aryan race".

• And, in fact, it was during the Third Reich that some of the most heinous atrocities "in the name of science" took place. You can find out by reading the article "Experiments on humans during Nazism".

When Hitler came to power, these beliefs became ideology ideology of the government and were disseminated on posters, on the radio, in movies, classrooms and newspapers. The Nazis began to put their ideology into practice with the support of German scientists who believed that the human race could be improved by limiting the reproduction of those they considered inferior. The truth is that the events that took place during the Nazi Holocaust Nazi holocaust, were produced by normal people who were not particularly bad citizens. Hitler, with his anti-Semitic campaign, made the German people believe that the superior races not only had the right but also the obligation to exterminate the inferior ones. For them, race struggle was consistent with the laws of nature.

This demonstrates, therefore, that much of human violence is rooted in the beliefs of the beliefs. If the key to eradicating violent behavior lies in changing beliefs, by changing them, we will also be changing the perception of what is right or wrong.