Aarhus University researchers found that people who are more prone to be bored will behave more sadistically to counter feelings of boredom, such as viewing images of injured people and even thinking about causing harm to others.
They reviewed more than 4,000 people and concluded that sadistic behavior is more pronounced to those who report chronic boredom in everyday life, MailOnline reported. Participants of the study included military personnel who may act sadistic while on their posts, parents who find joy in the misfortune of their children and hurting a worm.
The Link Between Boredom and Sadism
According to Britannica, sadism is a psychosexual disorder that finds gratification by inflicting pain on other people. It is often associated with its opposite, masochism, in which a person is sexually gratified when they receive.
Scientists have been investigating what can bring sadistic tendencies and found that even the simple act of viewing images of injuries can do it. But a new study, titled "On the Relation of Boredom and Sadistic Aggression" published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes, reveal that boredom is one factor that is crucial but often overlooked in causing sadistic behavior.
The new study suggests that a willingness to harm oneself when there is nothing to do also extends to hurting other people. According to Research Digest, this is even true for those who scored low on the general sadism scale. The authors argue that the findings could lead to new approaches to prevent sadistic behaviors in schools, the military, and other settings.
Participants in these different settings who often reported being bored were found to display more sadistic behaviors and admitted to such. To explore further, they looked at work that involved experimentally induced boredom in which participants were seen putting maggots in the grinder to pass time.
Though the maggots were not really harmed as researchers noted, it showed that participants derived pleasure from the action. They pointed out that when people do not have an alternative, boredom increases sadistic behavior as they seek excitement and novelty to mediate the effects of boredom.
Boredom Can Negatively Affect Mental Health
For people who are prone to boredom, this can adversely affect their mental health. Usually, being bored gets a negative connotation because people believe the state of boredom is equal to a lack of productivity or focus on a task, Medical News Today reports. But studies in the past have shown that being bored could also help boost creativity in some people.
Nonetheless, boredom is something that people experience repeatedly and even animals might also experience it too. Assistant professor Sammy Perone from the Washington State University said that boredom is common although some people can experience it a lot, which becomes unhealthy.
Perone and his colleagues conducted a study to find what boredom looks like in the brain. They discovered that people who are good at coping with boredom in everyday life tend to have more brain activity on the left hemisphere, but those who do not cope up as well tend to have more brain activity on the right hemisphere.
The findings are important in identifying the best ways of coping with boredom so that it does not negatively affect mental health and people could deal with it effectively.
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