Forschungskolloquium: Gastvortrag von Stefan Pfattheicher
"On the relation of boredom and sadism (and other cruelties)"
25.06.2019
Stefan Pfattheicher, Aarhus University, Denmark
Zeit: Dienstag, 25.06.2019, 16:15 Uhr
Ort: Leopoldstr. 13, Haus 1, Raum 1301
The beauty of human goodness is clouded when we turn our focus to humans’ inclination for destructiveness. The present talk focuses on one particular type of destructiveness: sadism (i.e., harming others for pleasure). There is a substantial gap in the literature regarding the question of which (situational) conditions actually motivate sadistic tendencies. In fact, we know very little about when and why sadistic tendencies actually emerge. In this talk it is argued that boredom plays a crucial role in the emergence of sadistic tendencies. Empirical evidence is presented from (a) a personality perspective by including trait boredom and trait sadism in the analysis, (b) an applied perspective by presenting evidence from studies at public schools, in the military, on the internet (online bullying), and the private space (sadistic phantasies), and (c) experimental behavioral studies. The talk will end with a discussion of challenges in the analysis of cruel behavior.