Search Here

Belief in pure evil significantly increases a person's chances of supporting more harsh criminal punishments.

The latest study involved around 200 participants who were instructed to read a summary of a case in which a murderer confessed to his crime. Later, participants were asked to give their agreement for different types of punishment including jail time with community service, jail time with the opportunity for parole, jail time without the possibility for parole and other sentences.

"We found that as people's beliefs in pure evil increased, they were more likely to support sentences like life in prison without parole and even the death penalty," lead researcher Donald Saucier, an associate professor of psychological sciences at Kansas State University, said in a news release. "We found that this actually happened through our participants perceiving the murderer as a demon and feeling that there was some need for retribution for the murder committed."

"People who saw the stereotypically evil person versus the non-stereotypically evil person recommended greater sentences," Saucier said. "But, if they believed in pure evil, it didn't matter the characteristics; they were more likely to support the death penalty or life in prison. The belief in pure evil overrode our stereotypically evil person."

"This belief may change based on traumas, victimization and the celebrations of human success in our life," Saucier said. "We think it's a dynamic variable and influences our social interaction and social perceptions."

The findings are published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.