Experts tell us people change when they are exposed to crime for extended periods of time. Their tolerance for the crime escalates this way:

• At first they abhor or object to the crime
• Then they become tolerant of or unbothered by the crime
• Then they embrace and participate in the crime
• Then they gain an appetite for escalated crimes

We know real-life situations…for example, the way violence by captors can escalate as unfair treatment of prisoners of war.

 

Psychology experiments have shown the crime situations do not even have to be real to have a major impact on behaviour. For example, consider the shocking results of the Stanford Prison Experiment [conducted in 1971].

 

In the Stanford Prison Experiment, students were placed in two groups: prisoners and guards. In a very short period of time the ‘guards’ became very abusive and the ‘prisoners’ became passive. The organizers had to stop the experiment before it resulted in serious damage.

 

Real-life experiences confirm crime has other surprising effects on people’s behaviour.

 

For example, consider ‘Stockholm Syndrome’.

 

Stockholm Syndrome [in summary]: sometimes prisoners develop positive feelings for their captors and sometimes prisoners emulate the attitudes and actions of their captors.

 

Crime can change deep and well-rooted thoughts and habits….replacing Good Habits with Bad Habits.

 

If crime can change habits then it isn’t too much of a leap to accept more positive and constructive endeavours such as the pursuit of financial success can also change habits…wealth and success orientations and situations can change habits for the better.

 

This has been known for millennia:

 

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle…student of Plato…tutor to Alexander The Great