>I'm not referring to teaching and demonstrating empathy, morals, behavior and consequences, as noted here:
>
>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/07/01/scibaby101.xml
>
>I'm referring to innate qualities like cognitive empathy and morals. A child can be taught right and wrong, how to live a moral life, how to be empathetic to their fellow man, acceptable behavior in a social world, but that doesn't mean they have innate cognitive empathy or morals. I think morality and empathy is rooted in biology and in some births, that wiring is disjointed or rewired and no manner of example or teaching can fix that, only train the person how to 'appear normal' in society.
>

I'll acknowledge that some people are born with the brain wiring screwed up in some way, but I know nothing that suggests that the number of such people is anything but tiny.

Most of the people who behave badly (using the term "badly" to cover a broad variety of things, some of which are far more than just "bad") are that way as a result of upbringing and circumstance, not biology. If we could ensure that every child gets enough food, gets good medical care, and has at least one adult who loves them, we'd go a long way toward eliminating a lot of crime.

Tamar