The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian, particularly Catholic, teachings.According to the standard list, they are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth, which are contrary to the seven heavenly virtues.
The seven deadly sins are discussed in treatises and depicted in paintings and sculpture decorations on Catholic churches as well as older textbooks.
Seven (stylized as Se7en)[1] is a 1995 American crime thriller. It stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and John C. McGinley. Set in an unnamed, crime-ridden city, Seven's narrative follows disenchanted, nearly retired detective William Somerset (Freeman) and his newly transferred partner David Mills (Pitt) as they try to stop a serial killer from executing a series of murders based on the seven deadly sins.
Seven is now regarded as one of the best thriller, crime, and mystery films ever made. It has been influential in filmmaking, inspiring many imitators of its aesthetic, style, and premise of detectives investigating serial killers with distinctive methods and motives. The film's title sequence, which depicts the killer preparing for his actions later in the film, is considered an important design innovation and has also influenced later credit sequences, while the film's twist ending has been named as one of the best in cinematic history.
The psychology of greed
In what ways did the rigged game reflect real-life situations, and what insights does it provide into human behavior?
How can privilege affect people's perspectives and their ability to empathize with others?
How do material possessions influence individuals and society, as highlighted in the podcast?
Reflect on the quote, "The world has enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed." How does this quote relate to the themes discussed?
Discuss whether there are positive forms of greed. For example, can being greedy for social justice or a clean environment be considered positive? Why or why not?
How have you observed or experienced the impact of greed or privilege in your own life or the lives of others?
What are your personal views on greed, privilege, and the pursuit of material possessions?
Match the vocabulary words or phrases from the podcast with their definitions.
Social Justice / Greed / Seven Deadly Sins / Reward Centre of the Brain / Monopoly / Neurological / Unconscious / Privilege / Credit (verb) / The Flip of a Coin / Pull Yourself Up by Your Bootstraps / Empathy / Clean Environment
a) The ability to share someone else’s feelings by imagining what it would be like to be them.
b) Informal word for material possessions.
c) One of history’s greatest leaders who emphasized nonviolent resistance.
d) Desire to accumulate material possessions and keep them for oneself without sharing.
e) A set of seven behaviors or feelings traditionally considered wrong in Christian teaching.
f) Controlling behavior influenced by the brain's reward system.
g) Investigating using a classic family board game, often involving money and property.
h) At the level of the brain that operates without conscious awareness.
i) Accepting praise and recognition for something, whether or not it is deserved.
j) A game manipulated to favor one player over another, revealing social dynamics.
k) Feeling financially better off than others, potentially leading to a sense of superiority.
l) The act of taking responsibility for one's own improvement through hard work.
m) The concept that everyone's basic needs can be met without excessive desires.
TRANSCRIPT
Neil
I'm writing my birthday wish list, Beth. Listen: I want a new laptop, a gold Rolex watch and a red sports car.
Beth
Phew, that’s quite a lot, Neil! Isn’t that a bit greedy?
Neil
So what? Greed is good! We’re genetically built to want things that increase our social status – power and material possessions like money, a nice house, a fast car… all that stuff!
Beth
Hmm, I'm not so sure, Neil. Remember, greed is also one of the seven deadly sins.
Neil
In this programme, we’ll be discussing greed, the desire to accumulate ‘stuff’, keep it for yourself, and not share it with others. And, of course, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary too. But first I have a question for you, Beth. You reminded me of a famous quote by one of history’s greatest leaders: The world has enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed. But who said it? Was it:
a) The Dalai Lama
b) Mahatma Gandhi or
c) Martin Luther King?
Beth
I think it was Mahatma Gandhi.
Neil
OK, Beth, I'll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme. At the neurological level, greed is controlled by the reward centre of the brain. Greedy people feel good when they choose the stuff they want, and this happens at the unconscious, emotional level of the brain, meaning there’s little conscious awareness about how greedy actions might affect others, or be unfair.
Beth
But what does this look like in real life? That’s what University of California psychologist, Professor Paul Piff, investigated using the classic family boardgame, Monopoly. The game was rigged to give one ‘rich’ player an advantage by letting them roll two dice instead of one, and collecting twice as much money as the ‘poor’ player when passing Go.
Neil
So, what happened when Professor Piff asked the ‘rich’ players why they had, inevitably, won the fixed game? Listen to the answer he gave to BBC Radio 4 programme, Seven Deadly Psychologies:
Professor Paul Piff
…they took credit for their wins. They talked about how they controlled their own outcomes, they talked about how it was the decisions they had made that had led to their being ultimately victorious, and not that flip of a coin that randomly got them into that position of privilege in the first place. Now, I don't know that this is a perfect model for how privilege, success or wealth operates in everyday life… Some people indeed have worked themselves up by their own bootstraps and get what they have because they worked hard…
Beth
Interestingly, the rich players took credit for winning. If you take credit for something, you accept praise and recognition for doing something, whether or not that praise and recognition is deserved.
Neil
In fact, it was the fixed game that determined who would win and lose, not anything the players did. Professor Piff uses the expression, the flip of a coin, to describe something which is based solely on random chance, like when you flip a coin into the air. Whether it lands on heads or tails is pure luck.
Beth
Yet the winning players claimed they won thanks to their own skill and ability. Here, Professor Piff uses another idiom, to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, meaning to improve your situation through your own hard work, without help from anyone else.
Neil
Worryingly, the experiment showed how feeling financially better off than others can easily change into feeling better than others. And the reason behind these feelings could be what money buys you, especially one thing: space.
Beth
If you’re rich you own a big house. At work you have your own spacious private office. You live in your own private bubble. Here’s Professor Piff again talking with BBC Radio 4’s, Seven Deadly Psychologies:
Professor Paul Piff
People who are well off are just more socially independent. They don't need others in their lives as much, and when you don't need others, well, your empathy might suffer as a result.
Neil
People who are well off, and rich enough to do what they want, rely on other people less. As a result, they may lack empathy, the ability to share someone else’s feelings by imagining what it would be like to be them.
Beth
Maybe it’s not greed itself that’s bad, but the things we’re greedy for. Being greedy for social justice or a clean environment is good, right? Something to be admired by the world leader in your question, Neil…
Neil
Yes, I asked you who said, The world has enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed. You said it was Mahatma Gandhi which was… the correct answer, Beth.