Motivation and emotion/Book/2023/Sadism and emotion

Sadism and emotion:
What are the emotional aspects of sadism?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Overview

Figure 1. Person enjoying seeing another in pain.

Derived from the French term "sadisme," which takes its name from Count Donatien A.F. de Sade, an 18th-century nobleman known for his graphic and cruel erotic literature, sadism involves deriving pleasure from cruelty (Holt et al., 1999). Those individuals exhibiting a sadistic personality trait actively seek satisfaction and enjoyment from witnessing the pain and suffering of others (Foulkes, 2019). Because of their desire to find pleasure in others' distress, these individuals with sadistic tendencies are more likely to display antisocial behaviour due to their high interests in acting cruelly or violently towards others.

Unfortunately, most research on sadism was conducted with a strong focus on sexual offenders and killers. More recently, there have been works which have recognised the existence of sadism in individuals outside of the context of crime (Foulkes, 2019).

This chapter provides an extensive outlook on sadism and the emotional aspects surrounding it.

Focus questions: What is sadism? What is the link between sadism and emotion? Are there any theories which can help explain the emotional aspects of sadism?

What is sadism?

Part of the Dark Tetrad, a set of four antisocial personality traits, sadism can be described can be described as possessing the following:

• Enjoyment of inflicting harm on others
• Lack of empathy, especially when others are in distress
• Wanting a strong sense of control and dominance over others
• Manipulative behaviour in order to get their own satisfaction fulfilled
• In constant violation of other people’s boundaries, for example purposely being too mean during a joke.

Sadistic personality disorder

• Sadistic Personality Disorder (SPD) is a term that has been used to describe individuals who constantly display patterns of sadistic behaviour and attitudes. Motivated by the pleasure and satisfaction gained from the suffering of others, sadistic behaviours include activities such as bullying, being unreasonably cruel, violent, and strong desire to control others and their environment (Millon et al., 2004).
• However, due to its high comorbidity with other disorders (and various other factors), SPD was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), but numerous medical practitioners recognise it as a condition needing treatment (Myers et al., 2006).
• In his 2004 book, American psychologist Theodore Millon and others state there are four subtypes of sadism which an individual can fall into: enforcing sadism, explosive sadism, spineless sadism, and tyrannical sadism (see Table 1).

Table 1

Sadism subtypes as described by Theodore Millon (2006).

Subtype	Personality Exhibition	Personality traits
Enforcing	Compulsive	Seek out rule-breakers and find satisfaction in enforcing control through severe punishments
Explosive	Borderline	They become unexpectedly violent when they experience dissatisfaction and frustration in their lives - Hypersensitive
Spineless	Avoidant	Use aggression to show they are not intimidated by others allowing them to control their inner feelings and display the opposite - Non-violent - Highly insecure
Tyrannical	Paranoid	Get satisfaction from playing a dominant role in creating suffering - Most frightening - Most violent

Sexual sadism

Figure 2. An illustration depicting sadism in a sexual manner.

• Originally thought to be the only form of its nature, this form of a sadistic personality is believed to be a form of personality disorder where the individual is sexually aroused from inflicting pain onto others they view as more submissive.
• Sexual sadism can vary in severity, ranging from sadistic acts with consenting partners to torturing and taking advantage of non-consenting people. Often their fantasies and behaviours include dominance, humiliation, bondage, biting, burning, whipping, strangulation, and mutilation of the body (Kirsch & Becker, 2007).
• The DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing sexual sadism disorder (SSD) states that:

1. The individual must experience persistent and strong sexual arousal as a result of the physical or psychological suffering of another person, which is evident through their fantasies, impulses, or actions, and
2. The individual has acted on these sexual thoughts with a person who did not give their consent, and/or the urges have caused significant distress or notable distress or harmed their ability to function effectively in social, work, or other essential aspects of life.

• There are multiple factors which can determining sexual sadism in sexually violent predators, however, research by Kirsch et al. (2006) found that sexual abuse during childhood- especially perpetrated by a female- was a strong predictor as 40% of their sample reporting experiencing sexual abuse by a female perpetrator during their childhood. This suggests abuse by women may lead to a combination of sexual arousal and aggression towards women in violent sexual sadists.

Quiz

1 There are multiple aspects of sadism. True False 2 The definition of sadism refers to the tendency to obtain pleasure and satisfaction from participating in, or viewing other people's suffering. True False

Emotional aspects of sadism

• As described by Lang (1995), emotions prepared reactions which can trigger different feelings, physical responses, and behaviours mainly influenced by two motivational systems: one attracted to pleasurable things and another that avoids unpleasant ones{{rewrite{{.
• While the standard person would feel a sense of joy while listening to a song they like (positive emotion due to positive stimuli), people with sadistic traits experience positive emotion because of negative or violent stimuli (Thomas & Egan, 2022).

Emotion recognition and empathy

• A commonly misused term and often associated with sympathy and pity, empathy is the ability to not only recognise and be aware of other people’s emotions, but also have the capability to share those feelings by imaging yourself in their position, thus leading to a greater understanding (Elliott et al., 2011). This is a skill that requires practice in most, but for sadists is completely disregarded.
• One can argue that in order for sadists to feel their satisfaction after seeing others in distress, their ability to recognise emotions is far more extensive enabling them to hold control and dominate other people. That being said, the other side of the argument justifies that sadists fail to see the negative emotions of others distress because they themselves lack the ability to recognise or empathise with the people they are interacting with.

Case Study: After brutally murdering a victim, ‘The Long Island Serial Killer’ made numerous phone calls to the victim’s family, taunting them by providing gruesome details of what he had committed, names of the family, as well as slut-shaming comments all to elicit fear and enjoy watching more victims suffer from his actions. The murder victim’s 15-year-old sister was phoned by the serial killer a total of seven times (Wanderer & Corbin, 2023).

Aggression and violence

• Not every individual with sadistic tendencies feels the need to be violent and aggressive; however, there are some whose primary goal is to bring harm on to others because of the positive reward they gain back (Međedović, 2016). As mentioned above following Theodore Millon’s findings, there are specific types of sadists who exhibit strong violent tendencies (all but spineless).
• During the first study involving an insect-killing model, individuals with sadistic traits exhibited a higher willingness to exterminate bugs compared to those without. In the next study which had a focus on the willingness to inflict harm on an innocent individual, when aggression was easy, both sadism and Dark Triad characteristics were associated with unprovoked aggression. Nonetheless, it was specifically the sadistic individuals who showed a readiness to engage in activities that allowed them to harm innocent people for personal gain (Buckels et al., 2013).

Sadism and antisocial behaviour

Figure 3. Antisocial behaviour: deviation from what is considered the social norm.

Many offenders show no signs of sadism, so it is not a necessary precondition for criminal activity (Seto, 2017). Other works have also shown that while many people have sexual fantasies about sadism, they do not always act upon those desires with nonconsenting individuals (Jozifkova, 2013). This suggests that for sadistic sexual offenders, the trait would need to be in conjunction with some other impairment such as reduced self-control, either chronic or temporary (Seto, 2017). However, it still remains unclear as to what the causes of crimes motivated by sadism are, how they differ from those non-sadistic, and the extent that sadism can predict antisocial behaviour above other predictors of crime (Foulkes, 2019).

Physiological properties of sadism and emotion

• Understanding the development of sadism using neuroimaging is a core area of study which unfortunately has not been extensively explored as of yet.
• As a disclaimer, of the limited range of studies which have researched the physiological aspect of sadism, the main focus has been on sexual sadism and sex offenders.

Endocrine responses

• Modulated by neuroactive hormones, sexual sadists are said to display an increased penile arousal and activation of brain regions involved in sexual arousal and emotional states when viewing stimuli which shows individuals in physical distress (Cazala et al., 2022).
• Further developing the field of research, Cazala and colleagues’ 2022 study examined the endocrine responses of sexual sadists (incarcerated adult male sexual offenders) while viewing a video of an individual in severe emotional distress. Findings from the study displayed physiological evidence of atypical processing of distress cues in sadism which is consistent with the role of testosterone in sexual arousal and aggressive behaviours.

Amygdala activation

Figure 4. Placement of the amygdala.

• In an fMRI study of 15 sexual offenders who were showed images of people in pain and not in pain, compared to non-sadist individuals, greater amygdala activation was seen when viewing pain pictures, a region involved in sexual arousal (Harenski, 2012)
• In another study using EEG scans, it was discovered that male participants with paraphilic interests (including sadomasochism) showed greater responses to paraphilic images at the left frontal, compared to male participants without these interests (Waismann, Fenwick, Wilson, Hewett, & Lumsden, 2003).

Theories on emotional aspects of sadism

• Looking at the emotional aspects of sadism, the main theories which can explain the connectivity are explored below.

Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory

• The Reinforcement sensitivity theory contains three systems referred to as the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), Behavioral Approach System (BAS), and Fight/Flight System (FFS). Functioning as a reward system, the BIS was believed to control reactions to conditioned punishment, leading to behaviours like passive avoidance, and trigger negative emotions such as anxiety. The BAS was thought to regulate responses to cues indicating reward (approach behaviours), as well as cues indicating relief from punishment (active avoidance) and triggering positive emotions. The FFS was considered responsible for regulating responses to aversive stimuli, resulting in fear and inducing rapid escape or defensive aggression (Colder et al., 2011).
• Following the BAS in Further revisions, approach and avoidance refer to the set of components which determine motivation and behaviour. Approach means the act of moving towards desired stimulus, while avoidance refers to moving away from an undesired stimulus (Feltman & Elliot, 2012).
• For example, being invited to an event and wanting to attend because it is at a great location (approach), but also not wanting to attend because people you dislike and do not want to interact with will be present (avoidance).
• Due to the strong ability for sadists to seek out their satisfaction, sadism could be understood as a high-approach low-avoidance temperamental trait (Thomas & Egan, 2022).

General Aggression Model

• The General Aggression Model indicates that aggressive behaviour can be influenced by three core factors: inputs, routes, and outcomes; all of which operate across an interaction with interplay of individual factors (such as personality traits) and situational variables (such as provocation) (Allen et al., 2018).
• Research findings from Parker and colleagues (2020) implied that proactive and reactive aggression are motivated by a combination of anxiety and approach-motivational personality traits.

Treatment

This section looks at some of the different treatment options of sexual sadism.

Covert sensitisation therapy

• Covert sensitisation (CovS) is a cognitive-behavioural procedure, which uses aversive imagery to weaken undesired behaviour. This has been used with some success to treat paedophiles (Stava et al., 1993).
• In the study, the principal measure of sexual arousal was penile reaction during the presentation of slides showing males and females, accompanied by audio tapes describing neutral scenes and aversive scenes, including the subject's arrest and humiliation in court.
• Results showed that patient tailored imagery which is aversive can be used to reverse sexual arousal to a deviant stimulus and is an important method in therapy.
• In another study, by the end of the treatment, the client was displaying low levels of arousal to exhibitionistic and sadistic stimuli, while maintaining appropriate heterosexual arousal, which was also sustained during a 2-month follow-up period. These findings supported the perspective that patterns of sexual arousal are distinct bodies which benefit best from individual assessment and treatment (Hayes et al., 1978).

Fixed role therapy

• This form of constructivist therapy focuses on clients putting into practice make-believe characters (drafted by therapists) which portrays an alternative identity for a fixed period of time (commonly two weeks). The purpose of a fixed role therapy (FRT) is for the purpose of assisting patients in seeing that change in one’s outlook and social role is possible at any time, if they are willing to try alternative ways to approach their life and challenges (Neimeyer, 2020).
• In a case study following an incarcerated client who displayed symptoms of sadism, masochism, and hebephilia, after six weeks of FRT, responses to pubescent males decreased and a self-report was made stating that the sadomasochistic themes of his sexual dreams were distractive on occasion, but they had greatly lessened in intensity and frequency (Horley, 2005).

Figure 5. Image of SNRI

Pharmacological measures

• The treatment of sexual sadism with pharmacological means is not recent, but has been often misconceptualised and requires further trials analysing their effectiveness on larger sample sizes (Foulkes, 2019).
• Nonetheless, some studies (Bradford, 2000), have seen the effectiveness of utilising medication such as anti-androgen and hormonal drugs, as well as the serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the treatment of sexually violent individuals (in accordance with forms of therapy).

Conclusion

There are multiple forms of sadism where emotion is the driving force as their behaviours are motivated by the high sense of satisfaction they obtain from being cruel to other individuals whether in a sexual manner or not. This is indicative of a high-approach, low-avoidant personality trait as described by the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, and specifically the approach and avoidant aspect of the Behavioural Approach System. Similarly, The General Aggression Model also describes how aggression is motivated by anxiety and motivational personality traits of approach. Thus displaying the connection between sadism and the strong aggression associated.

• The study of sadism is still dominated by the sexual aspect mainly from sex offenders, and so in order to fully understand this trait with all its divisions and aspects, further research is needed in order learn more about ‘every-day’ sadism as well as the difference between sexually sadistic criminals, those diagnosed with SSD, and individuals interested in consensual sadistic sex play. The field could also benefit from working on treatment research which also includes the involvement of nonsexual or criminal sadists.

See also

• Sadism motivation (Book chapter, 2023)
• Dark tetrad and emotion (Book chapter, 2023)
• [./Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadistic_personality_disorder Sadistic personality_disorder] (Wikipedia)
• Sexual sadism disorder (Wikipedia)

References

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Cazala, F., Zak, P. J., Beavin, L. E., Thornton, D. M., Kiehl, K. A., & Harenski, C. L. (2022). Hormonal response to perceived emotional distress in incarcerated men with sexual sadism. Personality and Individual Differences, 184, 111180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111180

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Wanderer, S., & Corbin, C. (2023, September). The Long Island Serial Killer’: How cell phones and a pizza box led to a suspect in 3 cases. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/long-island-serial-killer-cell-phones-pizza-box/story?id=102960350

External links

• Women, pornography and sadism (jordanbpeterson.com)
• What does it mean to be sadistic? (youtube.com)