DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/NEMN-V102
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7845-3523
Defense Date
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
David Chester
Abstract
Understanding the antecedents and impellers of aggression is key to preventing violence, and individual differences have been identified as some of the key factors of interest in the study of aggression. Antisocial personality traits such as psychopathy, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Sadism have received considerable focus from researchers. Among these traits, Sadism stands above them all as arguably the most malevolent of all trait constructs in psychology. Sadism shows the strongest correlations with aggression among malevolent traits and is uniquely linked to unprovoked aggression, even when it is costly. Sadism thus represents an extreme risk factor for aggression, and studying its roots and nomological network are essential. One closely- related construct of interest is schadenfreude–the experience of joy at another’s pain. The present study examined two possible mechanisms by which the passive enjoyment of harm (i.e., schadenfreude) may beget a desire to actively pursue harm among those high in Sadism: habituation to schadenfreude and affective prediction errors in schadenfreude. Results found that although individuals high in Sadism have a desire to cause harm to others, and habituate to schadenfreude faster than those low in Sadism, this habituation did not influence their desire to aggress, nor mediate the relationship between Sadism and a desire to aggress. In addition, Sadism was not related to schadenfreude forecasting errors, nor were forecasting errors related to a desire to harm, nor did they mediate the relationship between Sadism and a desire to aggress. Ultimately these results identify the experience of pleasure from another person’s suffering as a possible risk factor for aggression among individuals high in Sadism, and represents an avenue for violence intervention among these people.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-2-2025