Everyday sadism

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Everyday sadism (also known as subclinical sadism or simply sadism) is a personality trait characterized by the enjoyment of inflicting or witnessing pain upon other people or animals. [1] Those who fit the characteristic are referred to as sadists. Sadism has been associated with a lack of empathy, [2] and with psychopathic traits. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Etymology

The word "sadism" was first coined in the year 1888, with the meaning of "love of cruelty". It was based on the name of Count Donatien A.F. de Sade (also known as Marquis de Sade though he wasn't a marquis [7] ) as he was notorious for cruel sexual acts, acts that he would also glorify in fictional novels. [7]

The word sadism is often used in casual senses referring to an enjoyment and willingness to engage in cruel acts. [8]

As a concept in psychology

Sadism is also used in more psychological contexts, albeit in its more extreme forms, such as in criminal or sexual contexts. Psychologists Delroy Paulhus and Donald Dutton have asserted that sadistic behavior is so common throughout history that it can be said that sadism lies deeper in the human condition. [9] They also assert that research on the personality style was not viable until the creation of new psychometrics, such as the Varieties of Sadistic Tendencies scale. Studies were done on the behavior of sadists. One strategy implemented was asking who would volunteer to kill bugs. As expected by the researchers, sadists volunteered to kill bugs at greater rates than did nonsadists. [10]

Dark tetrad

The dark tetrad is the grouping of the dark triad personality traits narcissism, machiavellianism, psychopathy, with the addition of everyday sadism. [11] [12] [13] Myrthe Meere and Vincent Egan note that subclinical sadism is seen in everyday settings, such as those who are attracted to violence on television or those who like to engage in combat sports. [14] Studies on sadism show inverse correlations between perspective-taking and empathic concern. [2]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Buckels, E. E., Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2013). Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism. Psychological science, 24(11), 2201-2209
  2. 1 2 Pajevic, M., Vukosavljevic-Gvozden, T., Stevanovic, N., & Neumann, C. S. (2018). The relationship between the Dark Tetrad and a two-dimensional view of empathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 123, 125-130.
  3. ↑ Holt, S. E., & Strack, S. (1999). Sadism and psychopathy in violent and sexually violent offenders. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online, 27(1), 23-32.
  4. ↑ "All of the above findings demonstrate that psychopaths and likely sexual sadists experience significant deficits in their emotional processing and experience."
    • Kirsch, Laura G., and Judith V. Becker. "Emotional deficits in psychopathy and sexual sadism: Implications for violent and sadistic behavior." Clinical psychology review 27, no. 8 (2007): 904-922.
  5. ↑ "Finally, sadism is potentially more similar to psychopathy and Machiavellianism, than narcissism."
    • Bonfá-Araujo, B., Lima-Costa, A. R., Hauck-Filho, N., & Jonason, P. K. (2022). Considering sadism in the shadow of the Dark Triad traits: A meta-analytic review of the Dark Tetrad. Personality and Individual Differences, 197, 111767.
  6. ↑ Reidy, D. E., Zeichner, A., & Seibert, L. A. (2011). Unprovoked aggression: Effects of psychopathic traits and sadism. Journal of personality, 79(1), 75-100.
  7. 1 2 "Sadism | Etymology of sadism by etymonline".
  8. ↑ "Definition of SADISM".
  9. ↑ Paulhus, D. L., & Dutton, D. G. (2016). Everyday sadism.
  10. ↑ Buckels, E. E., Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2013). Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism. Psychological science, 24(11), 2201-2209.
  11. ↑ Blötner, Christian; Ziegler, Matthias; Wehner, Caroline; Back, Mitja D.; Grosz, Michael P. (2022). "The Nomological Network of the Short Dark Tetrad Scale (SD4)". European Journal of Psychological Assessment. 38 (3): 187–197. doi:10.1027/1015-5759/a000655.
  12. ↑ Book, A., Visser, B. A., Blais, J., Hosker-Field, A., Methot-Jones, T., Gauthier, N. Y., ... & D'Agata, M. T. (2016). Unpacking more “evil”: What is at the core of the dark tetrad?. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 269-272.
  13. ↑ Međedović, J., & Petrović, B. (2015). The dark tetrad. Journal of Individual Differences.
  14. ↑ Meere, M., & Egan, V. (2017). Everyday sadism, the Dark Triad, personality, and disgust sensitivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 112, 157-161.
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