How boredom can lead to being mean… and even sadistic!

Stimulate creativity, promote concentration and productivity, reconnect with oneself… In recent years, several studies have shown the benefits of boredom. But idleness, which has always had a bad press, also has a dark side. According to a study published in the journal Journal of Personality and Social Psychologydoing nothing could lead to sadistic behavior.

To reach this conclusion, researchers from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, analyzed 9 works, which include a total of 1,780 people. One of the researches reviewed was conducted using personality tests and boredom questionnaires. The scientists also looked at studies of soldiers, adults who are physically or verbally abusive with children, and “trolls”, i.e. people who post, often provocatively, tendentious messages in order to stir up controversy.

A link between boredom and sadism

Scientists have found that sadistic behaviors are more pronounced in people who tend to be bored often. Clearly, boredom could lead some to insult, intimidate, humiliate or physically hurt other people. This link between idleness and signs of sadism “generalizes to a variety of important societal contexts, including trolling, sadism in the military, sadistic parental behavior, and sadistic fantasies”the study authors said.

“When an alternative to sadism was offered to participants, boredom elicited sadistic behavior only in individuals with a high disposition to sadism. But when no alternative was offered, boredom led to sadistic behavior. sadistic even in individuals with a weak disposition to sadism”, can we read in the results.

After their analysis, the researchers came to a conclusion. According to them, boredom would be a triggering factor for sadistic behavior. Being mean to others may allow sadistic people to lessen negative feelings related to boredom. They concluded that it would be better to find occupations to avoid boredom and behaving in a sadistic way.