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> Generally, peer pressure prevents that sort of behavior, he said. "It's like parking in a handicapped spot," Shaich said.

> "The lesson here is most people are fundamentally good," Shaich said. "People step up and they do the right thing."

Interesting contradiction here. Is it peer pressure or fundamental goodness?

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If people weren't fundamentally good would there be peer pressure to give more than you need to?

I'll play devil's advocate:

Damn right they would. Your argument assumes that if they aren't good, they must be evil. This is plain wrong. Many people are neither, and just float in between. Society and peer pressure in general serve to drag people towards the more honest side of the spectrum. Arguably, it's the reason society exists at all. We gather together and make up some rules (that ostensibly make us give up some things) in order to make life and relations more predictable and tame.

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Slightly related tangent with devil's advocate level 2:

In contrast, if people aren't fundamentally evil, why can't we do without society?

It's not really a contradiction if you think in terms of equilibrium and system dynamics rather than an over-simplified quote from USA Today.

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