The Noble Savage: Refuting Golding's View of Human Nature

The Noble Savage Humans are unique and diverse creatures. They share different beliefs, various cultures, and conflicting goals. However, a human’s true nature is something that never changes. Yet, is it known what a human’s true nature even is? With his 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding attempts to answer this question. This book tells the tale of a group of boys stranded on an island with no adults, leaving themselves to their own devices. As these boys give in to their inner savagery and primal instincts, they learn of the inner darkness and evil in all of them; precisely what Golding believes lies in all humans. William Golding wholly believes that man is born evil, and that it is only because of the confines of society that humanity does not commit evil acts. However, Golding is wrong in his beliefs. Humanity possesses an innate goodness, and it is only the pressures of society that corrupt what the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau refers to as “the noble savage”: a human born with natural compassion. Scientific studies such as the Stanford Prison Experiment overseen by Philip Zimbardo, Stanley Milgram’s Experiment, and various studies conducted by the television show Brain Games prove that humans are born good. To learn more about whether humanity is born the way it is or made through society, Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist and professor at Stanford University, attempts to learn more about the power societal roles play in one’s life and mind. In 1973, he converts a university basement into a prison-like atmosphere, Zimbardo intended to assign applicants either the role of guard or prisoner, in order to see how perceived power can affect the human brain’s mindset. He acquires the help of male college students, and gathers a total of 11 guards and 10 prisoners. Zimbardo then instructs the guards to do whatever is necessary to keep the prisoners in line, with a limit of no physical violence. Despite this study lasting only six days, Zimbardo gains some interesting results. On day one of the study, the participants begin to display attitudes affected by their prison environments, with the guards harassing prisoners and the prisoners beginning to behave like real convicts, telling each other tales of their lives before their simulated arrest. However, the simulation experiences a change on the second day. A rebellion breaks out as the prisoners unify against their abusive guards, showing compassion towards each other despite not knowing one another well. In later days, the guards attempt to give privileges to certain prisoners an attempt to break their unity, but the prisoners refuse to have special treatment over others. This is evidence exactly countering what Golding believes, as these strangers in a simulated environment still stand together and protect one another against harm and abuse. However, Zimbardo has more results countering Golding. After the conclusion of the study, Zimbardo notes that he found that all of the participants and even himself had become entirely absorbed in their roles, and that this outward pressure to gain information is what caused them to begin to perform cruel acts against each other, or in Zimbardo’s case, continue to pursue science through unethical means. Regarding himself, Zimbardo states, “It wasn’t until much later that I realized how far into my prison role I was at that point,” (Philip Zimbardo, Simply Psychology) admitting that even he was entirely corrupted by the study and its mission. He then compiles these findings into his final conclusion, a testament to the societal corruption that occurs in today’s world: People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as those of the prison guards. The “prison” environment was an important factor in creating the guards’ brutal behavior (none of the participants who acted as guards showed sadistic tendencies before the study). Therefore, the findings support the situational explanation of behavior rather than the dispositional one. (The Stanford Prison Experiment, Simply Psychology) This study clearly shows the truth of natural goodness in humanity, as the prisoners cared for each other despite being given the opportunity to further themselves, and the monetary and scientific rewards behind the work for the guards and Zimbardo causing them to become wrapped up in their roles and research. Another study that intends to answer similar questions is Stanley Milgram’s Experiment of 1963. Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, is greatly intrigued by Nazi Officer Adolf Eichmann’s claims that he and the other millions of Nazis that fought under Hitler were simply obeying orders. Because of this claim, Milgram intends to discover the true impact authority and power has over one’s actions, and does so with his experiment. Using a selected amount of volunteers, all males between the ages of 20-50, Milgram places them at the controls of a device meant to shock a “fellow participant”, a man actually hired by Milgram to act in his experiment. A voltage, ranging from a measly 15 volts to a lethal 450 volts, is sent to the actor, though this is non-existent, and only the participant believes in it. If at one point the participant refuses to deliver dangerous voltages to the actor, a third person in the room, a researcher, says 4 prods to continue, each upon another refusal, in this order: 1. Please continue 2. The experiment requires you to continue. 3. It is absolutely essential that you continue. 4. You have no other choice but to continue. These prods are the real experiment, as they’re intended to allow the experimenters to see how far the participants will go under the orders of an authority figure. Milgram’s findings are astounding: all participants increased the voltage to the “dangerous” amount of 300, while a strong 65% of participants carried on all the way to maximum, deadly voltage of 450 (The Milgram Experiment, Simply Psychology). He then compresses his results in a small article in which he wrote: The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation. (The Milgram Experiment, Simply Psychology) However, most participants continued to show resistance or reluctance to continue, even though they obeyed in the end. This is direct evidence against Golding’s claims of a natural evil in us all, as these people would only commit such harmful acts that they are clearly reluctant to commit when ordered or pressured by others. Additionally, the television show Brain Games conducts several experiments in order to learn more about human empathy, sympathy, and compassion. There are two specific experiments that stand out greatly as direct proof of Rousseau’s idea. The first is an experiment where subjects are asked to add a sauce of varying spiciness to a stranger’s chili. At first, the subjects would add the mildest chili, showing no natural cruelty. When the subjects had an altercation with the stranger beforehand instead, they gave the stranger the spicier chilis, acting rudely or meanly after being wronged themselves. Finally, even after the altercation, the experimenters showed compassion and kindness to the subjects, which in turn caused them to be compassionated to the stranger. The other study conducted is on young babies, not old enough to speak but old enough to convey certain emotions or ideas. These babies are simply shown two puppets, one acting kind and polite, and one acting mean and aggressive. Afterwards, the babies are given the choice to play with one of the puppets, and almost all choose the compassionate and kind puppet. Even at a young and raw stage in the human mind, this compassion is still present. As Brain Games states, “…when you experience compassion, the chemical oxytocin is released in your brain, which stimulates more feelings of empathy…” (Season 4 Episode 1, Brain Games) proving that compassion is rewarded in the brain as it is the natural instinct. Golding says, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true…” (Chapter 12, Lord of the Flies) yet in reality, Ralph has nothing to worry about. At their basic and most natural state, humans choose the route of compassion. One could see the opposite evidence in these experiments as well. The Stanford Prison Experiment could be said to show that it proves the presence of a natural evil in humans, as the guards committed unethical acts when given the freedom to. For the Milgram Experiment, one may point out that the participants still continued until the highest voltage, and that they were able to so despite a muddled conscience. As for the Brain Games experiments, the sauce experiment could be seen as people being able to act on their true desires after being given an excuse to. However, each of these arguments only take into account certain aspects of each experiment. There isn’t enough evidence from any test to prove Golding’s claims, whereas large segments of the experiments can be explained in favour of Rousseau’s idea of innate goodness. Golding sums up his beliefs in his book with Simon saying, “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us,” (Chapter 5, Lord of the Flies) yet this is entirely false, and instead is a display of Golding’s cynicism. These beliefs can be easily refuted with logical, scientific evidence. Overall, the human brain is not as cryptic as it seems. With studies and experiments such as these it is quite clear that the brain is hardwired for compassion and sympathy. Humanity is meant to protect each other and care for one another, and it is the pressures and constructs of society that corrupt a human’s good nature. Golding himself is a product of this situation, as his views of true human nature have been altered and corrupted by events he has witnessed. Every time a door is held open, a strange is helped up, or some spare change is donated, no matter who or what does so, it is an example of the basic innate goodness in humanity. Whatever corruption may occur, there is always the roots of kindness present in the human mind. Bibliography McLeod, Saul. “Stanford Prison Experiment.” Simply Psychology, 2017, www.simplypsychology.org/zimbardo.html. McLeod, Saul. “Milgram Experiment.” Simply Psychology, 2007, www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html. “Compassion.” Brain Games, season 04, episode 01.