Are You Good or Evil?

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Horizon, 2011-2012 Episode 5 of 15

Duration: 1 hour

What makes us good or evil? It's a simple but deeply unsettling question. One that scientists are now starting to answer.

Horizon meets the researchers who have studied some of the most terrifying people behind bars - psychopathic killers.

But there was a shock in store for one of these scientists, Professor Jim Fallon, when he discovered that he had the profile of a psychopath. And the reason he didn't turn out to be a killer holds important lessons for all of us.

We meet the scientist who believes he has found the moral molecule and the man who is using this new understanding to rewrite our ideas of crime and punishment.

  • Professor Jim Fallon

    Professor Jim Fallon

    Professor Jim Fallon looks for signs of psychopathy in the human brain, but his research has become more personal than he could ever have imagined.

  • U.S. Marines

    U.S. Marines

    U.S. Marines in close-combat training. Decades of work has gone into preparing them for the ultimate moral choice.

  • Professor William Bernet

    Professor William Bernet

    In the courts of Nashville, Tennessee, forensic psychiatrist Professor William Bernet picks apart the biological basis for evil.

Credits

Series Editor
Aidan Laverty
Director
Nicola Stockley
Producer
Nicola Stockley

Broadcasts

See all broadcasts of Are You Good or Evil? (5)

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