Everyday sadism.

摘要: Sadism is the enjoyment of other people’s suffering. The phenomenon has traditionally been discussed in its most extreme forms, that is, in criminal and sexual contexts. Increasingly, sadism is being treated as a more common behavior with evolutionary roots (Baumeister & Campbell, 1999; Dutton, 2007; Nell, 2006; Taylor, 2009). Extreme sadism, such as torture of civilians by military and police forces, has been reported so consistently across time and cultures that its origin must lie deeper in the human condition than arbitrary instances of social learning (Dutton, Bond, & Boyanowsky, 2005). In contrast, social prohibitions against exhibitions of sadistic acts have developed incrementally in Western culture beginning around the 14th century (Pinker, 2011). We no longer consider it acceptable to publicly torture cats for amusement, as was the case in medieval France. However, Pinker (2011) conceded that a milder …