Behavioral Confirmation of Everyday Sadism

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 24; no. 11; pp. 2201 - 2209
• Main Authors: Buckels, Erin E., Jones, Daniel N., Paulhus, Delroy L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2013; Sage Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adult; Aggression; Aggression - psychology; Aggressiveness; Anti-social behaviour; Antisocial personality disorder; Antisocial Personality Disorder - physiopathology; Aversive; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Cruelty; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Killing; Machiavellianism; Male; Narcissism; Personality; Personality - classification; Personality - physiology; Personality tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology; Sadism; Sadism - physiopathology; Sadistic personality disorder; Social interactions. Communication. Group processes; Social psychology; Validation studies; Violence; Young Adult; cruelty; personality; killing; aggression; sadistic personality; antisocial behavior; sadism; rewards; individual differences; violence; Human; Antisocial behavior; Aggression; Sadism; Violence; Personality; Interindividual comparison; Reward
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1177/0956797613490749

Past research on socially aversive personalities has focused on subclinical psychopathy, subclinical narcissism, and Machiavellianism—the "Dark Triad" of personality. In the research reported here, we evaluated whether an everyday form of sadism should be added to that list. Acts of apparent cruelty were captured using two laboratory procedures, and we showed that such behavior could be predicted with two measures of sadistic personality. Study 1 featured a bug-killing paradigm. As expected, sadists volunteered to kill bugs at greater rates than did nonsadists. Study 2 examined willingness to harm an innocent victim. When aggression was easy, sadism and Dark Triad measures predicted unprovoked aggression. However, only sadists were willing to work for the opportunity to hurt an innocent person. In both studies, sadism emerged as an independent predictor of behavior reflecting an appetite for cruelty. Together, these findings support the construct validity of everyday sadism and its incorporation into a new "Dark Tetrad" of personality.