Are the vast majority of people good at heart?

[Kingpoleon]

Rare is the person who actively seeks to do what they know to be evil. All too commonly we do what we know to be evil, but would rather not do.

I believe we have found Paul.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

There is no pre-social self. Junk question.

[RINO Tom]

Absolutely.

[Xing]

I personally don't prescribe to the good/bad dichotomy. While I do believe that a majority of people try, at least on some level, to work toward what they believe to be the greater good (not everyone cares enough to do so, though), I also think that we often give in to things like anger, fear, and being judgmental quite easily. I think all of us have relatively good and bad impulses, and that some people work hard to operate on their good impulses, while others give in to more negative impulses quite often. It's also the case that many people who have "good intentions" end up doing more harm than good, either due to being misled or controlled by others.

As a caveat, I'm not religious, so the way in which I define "good/bad" is probably different than what it is for many of you.

[Tartarus Sauce]

There is no pre-social self. Junk question.

True that.

I would venture it is the intention of most though to be good and to do no harm to others if not necessary. There's a whole host of reasons why this may not come to bear but our basic humanity is always lurking underneath that which divides us. Empathy and altruism are biological impulses as ingrained as selfishness, despite what some may purport.

Psychopaths are an exception to this rule; they have no capacity with which to relate to their fellow man and cannot be taught it.

[Ban my account ffs!]

There is no pre-social self. Junk question.

True that.

I would venture it is the intention of most though to be good and to do no harm to others if not necessary. There's a whole host of reasons why this may not come to bear but our basic humanity is always lurking underneath that which divides us. Empathy and altruism are biological impulses as ingrained as selfishness, despite what some may purport.

Psychopaths are an exception to this rule; they have no capacity with which to relate to their fellow man and cannot be taught it.

If you are making psychopaths an exception, then you have to make exceptions for all kinds of people.  There are a lot of factors that go into making a person who they are before any social mores and norms or process are applied.

Someone who lacks the ability for empathy is juxtaposed with people who feel an abundance of empathy which affects their outlook on humanity and the world.  In those cases, it is society that cannot relate to them though they often find it easy to relate to others.

As usual, there is a big mucky grey area here.