Not the Enemy

Psychologists believe that they can explain kindness and altruism through evolution: [bold added]

Research suggests that one fundamental reason people are altruistic is to make themselves attractive to sexual partners. In a large-scale cross-cultural study of qualities found attractive in mates, published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology in 1990, David Buss and colleagues asked young adults across the globe to rate how important various attributes were in long-term mates. Across a broad range of cultures, they found that kindness placed toward the top of the list. Mate preferences are a very strong evolutionary force, so if people prefer kindness in mates, kindness will become a common attribute in the species. This is one reason why there are so many good people.

(Image from medium.com)

There also is an evolutionary explanation for evil ("behavior that other people find objectionable and even hateful"). But before they could explain how these behaviors emerged, the social scientists had to define them; appropriately, they're known as the "dark triad":

narcissism (an excessive focus on oneself), Machiavellianism (manipulating others for one’s own gain), and psychopathy (an overall disregard for others).

Wood frogs make like the birds and bees (music of nature)

The writer hypothesizes that the dark triad is an adaptation similar to that of weaker male wood frogs who are trying to reproduce:

Once a female wood frog approaches, the male tries to mount her, while she tries to shake him off. This is a way of selecting for larger mates, since if the male is large enough, it is harder for her to dislodge him.

This preference leaves smaller male wood frogs in a pickle because they can’t stay mounted on the female. So these males have evolved an alternative strategy: They hang out near a large, dominant male as he calls out for females. When a female comes by and releases her eggs—in wood frogs, fertilization takes place outside the body—the satellite male will try to quickly enter the picture and fertilize them with his sperm.

In the wood-frog mating system, then, we see two very different behavioral strategies, each of which can achieve reproductive success. Smaller male frogs face obstacles to mating, forcing them to use an aggressive or “fast” mating strategy, while larger frogs have the luxury of using a safer, “slower” mating strategy.

Objections are immediately apparent if we try to analogize wood frogs to humans: 1) not every physically weak male is a psychopathic Machiavellian narcissist; 2) why do some women evince dark triad behavior? 3) if a "stressful, harsh, or unstable child-parent relationship" is the trigger--as one theory goes--why do some people who come from a stable family (their siblings turned out all right) become evil?

This is yet another example of a thesis that one's destiny is determined by genes, the environment, or both in combination. Your humble blogger doesn't disparage these explanatory efforts, however, for knowledge of our feelings enables us to control them, and knowledge enhances free will, not destroys it.