Study: Sadism more common than people think
September 19, 2013
Salon:
People who enjoy being cruel are scarily prevalent, new research says.
There may be more sadists lurking in our midst than we’d like to think, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia and the University of Texas at El Paso. After offering a group of college students the chance to play exterminator and kill live bugs, researchers found “acts of apparent cruelty” and evidence of “everyday sadism”-a less pathological variety of deriving pleasure from being cruel.
More than 70 psychology students participated in the study, which they thought was about “personality and tolerance for challenging jobs.”
Read the whole story: Salon
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