People​—What Makes Them “Tick”?

People do good deeds and they do bad ones. They are a mixture of both good and bad. Many times they are on target and many times they miss the mark. They are contradictory, both bitter and sweet. Why? What makes them this way? What, really, makes people “tick”? This series on PEOPLE seeks the answer.

WHY does a man walk in one day and shoot his wife and four children? Why does another man spend his life laboring to care for his family?

One person lives a life of service to mankind, while another makes a career of crime and violence. One gives generously to alleviate suffering; another hoards wealth and creates pain and misery. Some give to the poor, whereas others blame the poor for their poverty. One group finds joy in building and creating. Others derive vengeful delight from senseless vandalism. Why do different people act so differently?

Moreover, why can the same person at times be so kind and loving, and at other times be so cruel? He may use his knowledge and the power it brings to do good for humanity, then turn around and use this same knowledge to make bombs to blow women and children to bits. Some may feel sorrow afterward, while others feel nothing. Why this inner conflict, this war between flesh and spirit, this condition in man as though he were a house divided against itself? Is it inherited? Is it due to the environment? Are there unsatisfied needs within people that propel them toward evildoing? And if these needs are met, does it enable them to do the good they may wish to do?

The apostle Paul wrote about this inner conflict: “I do not understand what I do; for I don’t do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. I don’t do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. My inner being delights in the law of God. But I see a different law at work in my body​—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of.”​—Rom. 7:15, 19, 22, 23, Good News Bible.

James, a brother of Jesus, wrote of the contradictions within people: “The tongue, not one of mankind can get it tamed. An unruly injurious thing, it is full of death-dealing poison. With it we bless Jehovah, even the Father, and yet with it we curse men who have come into existence ‘in the likeness of God.’ Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. It is not proper, my brothers, for these things to go on occurring this way.”​—Jas. 3:8-10.

Note the statement about coming into existence “in the likeness of God.” What does it mean? Is it the key to answering the question, What makes people tick?

People​—How They Began

Knowing how they began will help us to understand what they have become

THERE are reasons both logical and scientific for believing the Bible account of the creation of the first human pair.a That book’s first chapter states: “In God’s image he created him [man]; male and female he created them.”​—Gen. 1:27.

What does it mean to be “in God’s image”? Does it mean the first human looked like God in a physical sense? If so, it means that he or his descendants could have made a carved image that would look like him. But this was not possible. So Isaiah asked: “To whom can you people liken God, and what likeness can you put alongside him?” The Bible says: “No man has seen God at any time.” So again the question, What does it mean to be “in God’s image”?​—Isa. 40:18; John 1:18.

People may see a boy and say, “He’s just like his father!” However, the boy may not look like his father. But he is like his father in other ways, such as disposition, personality, mechanical ability, musical talent, physical agility or moral qualities. Having attributes similar to his father’s, the boy is said to be like his father.

It is in this same sense that the first human pair were created in God’s likeness. They were given certain attributes possessed by God. This accounts for the tremendous gulf between man and the lower animals. These godly qualities equipped the man to exercise dominion over the animals. To both the man and the woman God said: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.”​—Gen. 1:28.

Male and female he created them. Different? Obviously different. Different physically. Different mentally. Different emotionally. Men and women are pleased with these differences. It makes them complements of one another. They were created to be complements. (Gen. 2:18, 20) In a particular respect man was in God’s image where woman was not​—in headship. (1 Cor. 11:3, 7) Both the man and the woman shared in being in God’s likeness insofar as each one possessed the divine attributes given at the time of their creation.

What are some of the qualities of God that were built into the first human pair? Some of them are made manifest by his visible creations. Romans 1:20 declares this: “His invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made.” Without words or voice or speech, God’s works in heaven and on earth are declaring his glory, reflecting his attributes.​—Ps. 19:1-4.

Certainly knowledge and wisdom are perceived in the earth and in its plants and animals. And is not his power felt in the thunderstorm? The infinite variety of his creations testify to his being a prolific worker. They reveal him to be a supreme Designer with purpose in view. His quality of justice is shown in this: He designed creatures with certain needs; in justice he provided for the fulfillment of these needs. He goes beyond the requirements of justice​—in love he showers his blessings even on the wicked. Jesus indicated this: “Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous.”​—Matt. 5:44, 45.

The first human pair had these qualities, or the capacity for acquiring them. In this sense they were in God’s likeness. However, history shows that people have not always reflected these attributes, nor do they today. What has happened? Are they no longer in God’s likeness?

[Footnotes]

[Box/​Picture on page 5]

SOME ATTRIBUTES OF GOD GIVEN TO THE FIRST HUMANS

JUSTICE

“All his ways are justice.”​—Deut. 32:4.

POWER

“He is the Maker of the earth by his power.”​—Jer. 10:12.

LOVE

“God is love.”​—1 John 4:8.

“God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son.”​—John 3:16.

WISDOM

“Jehovah himself give wisdom.”​—Prov. 2:6.

KNOWLEDGE

“A God of knowledge Jehovah is.”​—1 Sam. 2:3.

PURPOSE

“Everything Jehovah has made for his purpose.”​—Prov. 16:4.

WORK

“How many your works are, Jehovah!”​—Ps. 104:24.

[Picture on page 4]

Just like his father​—but not in looks

People​—What Happened to Them

“God made mankind upright, but they themselves have sought out many plans.” “They have acted ruinously on their own part; they are not his children, the defect is their own.”​—Eccl. 7:29; Deut. 32:5.

SOME amusement parks have mirrors that are curved and thus distort the images that they reflect. People stand in front of them and laugh at what they see​—their heads seem long, their bodies short and squat, their legs three times as long as they really are. Move closer to the mirror or farther away and the distortions change, but never does the image reflect the true bodily proportions. We would weep in despair if these horrible distortions were true reflections of ourselves. But it is all in fun and we stand there posturing and laughing at the ludicrous images we see in the mirror. All of our bodily parts are there, but so distorted!

There is another image of ourselves that is not properly proportioned, but this one is real and no laughing matter. It is the image of our innermost selves, of what we are inside, “the secret person of the heart.” (1 Pet. 3:4) This image should show the attributes of Jehovah God, in whose likeness man was originally created. We still have his attributes, but they have gotten out of their proper proportions, like the reflections of our physical image in the curved mirror.

Jehovah God created the first human pair with his attributes or with the capacity for developing them. They needed the qualities of justice and love, knowledge and wisdom, and the power to work with purposes and goals in view. They were assigned work that would give their lives purpose and meaning, and they were created with the abilities to perform the work. (Gen. 1:28; 2:15, 18) They also possessed free will, so they could choose their own course.​—Josh. 24:15.

Adam and Eve were created upright and were told of the course that would mean life, but they ‘sought out another plan, acted ruinously on their own, and became defective.’ Eccl. 7:29; Deut. 32:5) They misused their freedom of choice. Eve, in a selfish grab for knowledge, unwisely disobeyed God. This disobedience showed a lack of love for the One who had given her life. “This is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments.” (1 John 5:3) Adam set aside his love for God to side with Eve in her rebellion. No longer were the divine attributes they had received in proper balance, but they were now incomplete, imperfect. And, true to God’s warning, they were sentenced to death, and they passed on to their offspring imperfection and death.​—Ps. 51:5; Rom. 5:12.

However, down to this day their descendants still have these divine attributes to a degree. For example, the desire for knowledge. Even a small child is hungry to know. As soon as he can talk his mind pours out streams of questions. He wants answers, craves food for thought. The endless outpouring amazes adults, sometimes baffles and exasperates them, and finally exhausts them. But the barrage is to satisfy a natural curiosity and hunger for knowledge. Why this? Why that? Why, why, why? Finally the besieged parent may cry out in desperation, “Go ask your mother!” or, “Go ask your father!” But this curiosity should not be discouraged in the young or be lost by the old. It is to satisfy our innate need to know.

“A man of knowledge is reinforcing power.” (Prov. 24:5) Knowledge has accumulated until today man has the power to fly higher and faster than any bird, travel faster on land than any animal and surpass fish in the water. He can see and hear what is happening on the other side of the earth. He has gone to the moon and back. We are fascinated by power, we watch enthralled as a crane swings a steel ball into the side of an old brick building and brings it crashing to the ground. A charging rhino, an elephant stampeding through the jungle, a flash of lightning, a crack of thunder, a raging storm on the sea​—we are awed by such power!

We have a sense of justice. Even children are sensitive to injustice and become very upset when they think that they have not been treated fairly. Adults also become righteously indignant when suffering injustice. In stories we want justice to triumph. We want the hero to win and the villain to get his just deserts. It is only justice for us to reap what we sow. It is justice and fairness that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. (Gal. 6:7; Matt. 7:12) Even those without God’s law have by nature a sense of right and wrong, and a conscience that accuses or excuses. We have guilt feelings when doing wrong, just as did Adam and Eve, who hid when they were guilty.​—Gen. 3:8-10.

Many desire wisdom and seek it through study and meditation. It is not programmed into them, as it is in many other earthly creatures. Some animals possess a wisdom that amazes humans. By instinct they migrate, hibernate, aestivate, build and engage in other activities that reflect wisdom. As the Bible says, “They are instinctively wise.” (Prov. 30:24) However, mankind has the capacity for gaining knowledge and using it in a wise way. By meditation he acquires insight and understanding. Man alone, of all earthly creatures, possesses this flexible wisdom.

Jehovah is a God of purpose, and man needs to have purpose in his life. He is distressed if he has no purpose, if his life has no meaning. To accomplish a purpose man must work. Work makes man feel useful. God made man to work, gave him work to do, putting him “in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to take care of it.” Jehovah’s gift is that man should “see good for all his hard work.” (Gen. 2:15; Eccl. 3:13) Work reflects the worker; it testifies to the worker’s worth. It is satisfying to see work well done, finished, the purpose accomplished. Jehovah pronounced his creative work very good and was refreshed by its accomplishment.​—Gen. 1:31; Ex. 31:17.

Above all, people need love. They need to love and be loved. Without it we shrivel up inside. Babies well cared for physically will be stunted and sometimes even die if unloved. Adults deprived of love feel lonely and their spirit becomes depressed and despondent. “The spirit of a man can put up with his malady; but as for a stricken spirit, who can bear it?” (Prov. 18:14) Love bears all things and endures all things; without it much of life becomes unbearable and unendurable. (1 Cor. 13:7) We hear of many shortages in these troubled times, but the greatest shortage on earth is that of love. Psychiatrists say it’s behind most mental illnesses today.

And this brings us to the next step in our quest for an answer to the question, What makes people tick? When the needs with which man was created go unfulfilled, there’s trouble ahead. An automobile is designed with certain needs. If they are not fulfilled, the car will not run. If they are fulfilled poorly, the car may run, but poorly. So it is with people. The first pair was created with certain qualities that needed to be satisfied, and these same attributes are possessed by people today. When these needs are not met, or only partially so, the incredible human machine does not function properly. It sometimes runs amok and does incredibly inhuman things.

Warped personalities manifest human qualities in twisted and distorted ways, as the curved mirrors reflect physical bodies in grotesque ways. The divine attributes of justice, love, wisdom, power and others are still with us, but in our imperfection they no longer balance one another in their operation. With regard to these qualities, people have become unbalanced.

[Blurb on page 7]

Even those without God’s law have by nature a sense of right and wrong

People​—Why They Act the Way They Do

Is it their genes? Their environment? Freedom of choice? or Do we really know?

“IT’S my genes!” one person says in defense of his wrongdoing. It is true that heredity, or the genes, influence people’s conduct. The Bible concurs in this: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”​—Rom. 5:12.

“It’s my environment!” another wrongdoer pleads. That too is a factor. “He that is walking with wise persons,” the Bible says, “will become wise, but he that is having dealings with the stupid ones will fare badly.” Also, “Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits.”​—Prov. 13:20; 1 Cor. 15:33.

Both inherited traits and environmental influences are powerful factors in shaping the individual. Nevertheless, responsibility for his actions cannot be shifted to genes or environment. Why not? Because people are free moral agents. Hence, “each of us will render an account for himself to God.” Man was not made a robot, but he has a will of his own, and bears responsibility for its use.​—Rom. 14:12.

Man has capacities for gaining knowledge and wisdom, for love, and a sense of justice. He has the power to do purposeful work, to give meaning to his life. But in fallen man these potentials are not developed to the full, nor are they properly balanced one with the other. Consequently, his needs are not met and he acts imperfectly​—like the car the designed needs of which are unfulfilled.

Just as a small pebble in our shoe or a speck of dust in our eye gets our attention, so it is the bad that people do that makes the headlines. The rest of the body may be fine, and people may be doing much good, but it is the disturbance that gets the attention. So it is with the failures in view that the question is asked, Why do people act the way they do? What makes them tick?

The failures may be small. A need may be unfulfilled, a wish denied, a purpose frustrated, and in a bad mood the person snaps at others. Many times it is more serious. Discrimination may deny a person acceptance or recognition or work; frustration sets in; hostility then escalates into anger and erupts in violence. Greed for money or possessions drives many to run roughshod over others. “Me firsters,” obsessed by their own desires, rob or rape or kill to satisfy their lusts. Ambitious men and organizations and nations launch inquisitions and wars, commit horrendous atrocities, ruin the earth with poisonous chemicals and spread famine and pestilence and death to millions.

Why? They are no longer in God’s likeness, no longer guided by his attributes. The gulf that separates men from animals narrows and, in extreme cases, makes men like “unreasoning brute beasts which are born to be caught and killed.” (2 Pet. 2:12, Phillips) They pervert the divine attributes. Knowledge is used evilly to increase power that corrupts and destroys. Wisdom deteriorates into worldly folly. Justice becomes harsh, cruel. Love turns inward upon self. Qualities with great potential for good are distorted to empower men to commit evils far greater than any of those possible by “unreasoning brute beasts.”

People are surrounded by violence​—in cities, in books, plays and movies, in their streets, in their living rooms. Television floods minds from infancy on with mayhem and murder. One study estimates that by age 14 the average American child has been exposed to 11,000 television murders. A Congressional subcommittee investigated violence in the schools and came up with this statement of historic import: “More children were killed in the schools, often in gun fights with other pupils, between 1970 and 1973, than soldiers in combat in Vietnam.”

Evolutionary scientists assure us that all of this is natural. Aggression is innate, they say, handed down to us by animal ancestors. Not true, other scientists contend. Anthropologist Ashley Montagu writes as follows:

“There are many societies that, far from engaging in aggressive behavior, are remarkably nonviolent and cooperative. Examples are the Tasaday of Mindanao, the Todas of southern India, the Tahitians, the Hadza of Tanzania, the Ifaluk of the Pacific, the Yamis of the Western Pacific, the Lapps, the Arapesh and the Fore of New Guinea. . . .

“When anthropologists study such nonaggressive societies, we observe that it is principally through their child-rearing practices that they produce cooperative, nonviolent personalities. Great affection is lavished on children. From infancy on, small children are scarcely ever out of bodily contact with someone who is either cuddling or carrying them. . . .

“Aggression and nonaggression are each learned ways of behavior. Every society provides models for its preferred forms of behavior​—models that are continually reinforcing the behavior of the individual. America sets before the child the most aggressive kinds of models, and then we wonder why we have such high rates of violent crime.”

Dr. John Lind urges a return to the rocking of babies and the singing of lullabies to them, because this “hastens the development of the brain.” The magazine Psychology Today, December 1979, said that “during formative periods of brain growth, certain kinds of sensory deprivation​—such as a lack of touching and rocking by the mother—​result in incomplete or damaged development of the neuronal systems that control affection.” “Since the same systems influence brain centers associated with violence,” the article continued, “the deprived infant may have difficulty controlling violent impulses as an adult.”

Dr. Richard Restak in his book The Brain: the Last Frontier (1979) makes these points: Experiments have “provided conclusive evidence that the limbic [marginal] system is the area of the brain most concerned with emotion,” and to destroy or stimulate this area changes behavior. Electrical stimulation can cause either joy or rage. “The immature brain is dependent on sensory stimulation for normal growth,” and “when an infant is rocked or cuddled, impulses are directed to the cerebellum that stimulate its development.” This is important, for the cerebellum controls movement and if it is deprived of these pleasurable impulses sufficient nerve synapses do not form, and development is abnormal. The result may be an impulsive, uncontrolled, violent personality.

The above two paragraphs show that not only genes and environments and models of behavior that society puts before us affect the way we act, but also the treatment we receive as helpless babies affects our brain development, our emotional states and resultant actions.

But still another factor is at work​—one whose existence many people will not even acknowledge. The Wall Street Journal, however, does. In an editorial October 28, 1977, on “The Terrorist Impulse,” it wonders about the mindless rage and violence. The tendency is to blame society, but the editorial wonders about “deep and irrational impulses” in man for whom “evil has its own appeal.” Its concluding sentence: “You are less close to the truth if you blame society than you are if you blame Satan.”

The Bible calls Satan “the god of this system of things,” identifies “wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places” as the real enemies, and declares woe for the earth “because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:12; Rev. 12:12) Satan was at the root of the trouble in Eden when he tempted Eve into abandoning God’s ‘image and likeness.’ He is still a mighty force today in causing people to act in mindless, raging violence.

Many known factors explain why people act the way they do. Genetics, environment, freedom of choice, unfulfilled needs​—all of these influence conduct. Brain development during infancy plays an important role. However, man’s understanding of the brain is in its infancy. It is frequently called the most mysterious thing in our mysterious universe. Then there is also the Satanic influence.

So do we really know why people act the way they do? We know some details; many details we do not know. But we do know the basic reason: None of us perfectly reflect ‘the image and likeness of God.’

[Blurb on page 9]

More children killed in school violence between 1970 and 1973 than soldiers in combat in Vietnam

[Picture on page 10]

Television floods minds from infancy with mayhem and murder

[Picture on page 10]

Cuddling, lullabies help the brain grow

People​—Their Return to God’s Likeness

“Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.”​—Col. 3:9, 10.

JEHOVAH created the earth to continue forever, to be inhabited forever. He has given it to the children of men, to be inherited by the meek ones of the earth. And as Jesus taught his followers to pray, God’s will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. From the beginning it was God’s purpose to have man serve as earth’s caretaker. It still is his purpose. Only those, however, who return to the likeness of God may enjoy this privilege.​—Ps. 104:5; 37:29; 115:16; Matt. 6:9, 10.

Such ones must strip off the old personality with its practices and clothe themselves with the new personality. (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9) How? Through accurate knowledge​—knowledge of Jehovah and his divine qualities, and the putting of them into practice. Hence, a beginning in this is to follow the apostle Paul’s advice at Philippians 4:8, 9: “Whatever things are true, whatever things are of serious concern, whatever things are righteous, whatever things are chaste, whatever things are lovable, whatever things are well spoken of, whatever virtue there is and whatever praiseworthy thing there is, continue considering these things. The things that you learned as well as accepted and heard and saw in connection with me, practice these; and the God of peace will be with you.”

The advice is to think on these things. Thoughts create feelings, and when feelings become strong enough they move people to act. The Bible writer James indicated this when he said that as we dwell mentally on evil thoughts desire grows and eventually leads to sinful acts. This is stated at James 1:14, 15: “Each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn, sin when it has been accomplished, brings forth death.”

Jesus also indicated this regarding adultery: “I say to you that everyone that keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:28) To keep on looking and thinking may make desire so strong that the adulterous act itself is committed.

The same principle works with good thoughts. They create good feelings that lead to good acts. So use freedom of choice wisely. Think on good things, desire them, do them.

The apostle Paul advised this. He certainly practiced it. But still he lamented: “What I wish, this I do not practice; but what I hate is what I do.” He bewailed his inner conflict of flesh and spirit: “Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me?” He had accurate knowledge, tried to return to God’s likeness, tried to bring into a balance the various attributes of Jehovah that he had. In himself he failed, yet he did gain the victory. His cry tells us how: “Thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”​—Rom. 7:15, 24, 25.

We may make a start in balancing harmoniously the divine attributes, but only God through Christ makes the return to his likeness complete.

[Box on page 12]

“The greatest of these is love.”​—1 Cor. 13:13.

Without love

Justice is harsh

Knowledge inflates

Wisdom is vain

Power corrupts