Enjoyment from watching others get hurt, and sociopathy

[Angrboda]

A lot of times the violence occurs within a contextualized relationship in which we in some sense think it's okay for the violence to occur. Sports for example, are often seen as a symbolic reenactment of our warlike selves, in which we objectify and victimize the "other" in the context of battle between two sides. We root for the player on our team that makes the aggressive hit, but we cringe when "our own" player takes a significant hit. In other circumstances, it's contextualized by the victim having done or said something to make them "deserving" of the violence, as a sort of justice. We notice this a lot in crime dramas in which the bad guy usually "gets what's coming to him." In other circumstances, the violence is contextualized as a predator-prey relationship, such as the roadrunner and coyote, or tom and jerry, or bugs bunny and elmer fudd; it's odd that in those relationships, the results of the violence are inverted in order to make the predator into the bad guy. But the inter-species violence between the characters is normal and expected.

So I think a lot of the violence described by the OP is actually normalized by the relationship of the victim to the victimizer in a lot of circumstances, rather than by any inherent sociopathic tendencies in the viewer. The real puzzling incidence is when we enjoy schadenfreude over the misfortune of a complete stranger. Even then, this is often enhanced in representations by the victim having done or said something beforehand which identifies them as a "bad" person.

[Catholic_Lady]

Yeah I don't understand schadenfreude. To me that seems sociopathic too. The only time I feel glad to see someone's misfortune is when the person is a jerk and I feel they got what was coming.

[Rev. Rye]

Yeah I don't understand schadenfreude. To me that seems sociopathic too. The only time I feel glad to see someone's misfortune is when the person is a jerk and I feel they got what was coming.

I think you just explained the appeal of schadenfreude. 

Well, that, and Slapstick, and it really helps when you can divorce yourself from the reality of the situation, which is remarkably easy for most people:

[J a c k]

When you think about the notion of taking enjoyment from watching other people get hurt, you think of a sociopath, right? You think of someone who isn't quite "normal," who doesn't have empathy and therefore isn't bothered by the pain of others... And even worse, actually likes seeing it. Thankfully, sociopaths only make up 4% of the population. Supposedly.

But I was having a conversation about it with someone the other day, and they made a good point. They pointed out that the "best parts" in watching contact sports like football, hockey, MMA, etc... are the big blows. They then said "is it really abnormal to enjoy watching others get hurt?"

This stumped me. While I personally don't take enjoymeny from watching that in sports, or even in movies where people are only getting pretend hurt, I must admit that MANY seemingly normal, non sociopathic people do. The popularity of MMA, by itself, is testimony to this... and how everyone cheers and gets excited when a football player gets a major blow, etc.
.
And then I thought about the Colloseum in Ancient Rome, and how popular that was - watching people get eaten alive by animals or forced to kill each other with primitive weapons. It was fun for people. Thanks to a Netflix doc, I learned a few weeks ago that 40% of internet porn being viewed depicts violence against women. 40%! And people jerk off to that. And then I thought about the popularity of the Saw movies and how sadistic they are.
.
What to make of this? I mean, if so many people enjoy watching others in pain in one form or another, is sociopathy even a thing?? How in the world is it so normal to enjoy watching other people's pain if we supposedly have empathy?

I don’t think there’s comparison between a person who enjoys torturing an innocent being who begs for mercy, and people who enjoy watching MMA , which has willing participants that can quit a fight at any time and walk in feeling proud and powerful. I mean... how? And in the movies SAW (which I can’t watch), people know they’re acting. If it was live footage of actual torture, I’d say viewers are in fact sick. I just fail to see where watching contact sports or movies can compare to a sociopath mentality or prove lack of empathy.

[Fireball]

Having been smaller in stature than most of my age group, I have a place in my psyche where I view infliction of corporal injury as anathema, full stop. It took me awhile to get there, though. I'd fight at the drop of a hat, but only in self-defense. I got in so many fights in school, and even in the Navy, that it cost me. I get no enjoyment watching fighting of any sort; I only did what I had to do to keep from getting hurt worse. When I see a hockey player whack another player with his stick in the back of the neck, and the guy is bleeding and unconscious, I wonder why in the hell isn't the perp arrested and taken to jail? Try that on the street and see what happens. Just because it is in some "sports" arena does not make it right, in any way.

[Catholic_Lady]

When you think about the notion of taking enjoyment from watching other people get hurt, you think of a sociopath, right? You think of someone who isn't quite "normal," who doesn't have empathy and therefore isn't bothered by the pain of others... And even worse, actually likes seeing it. Thankfully, sociopaths only make up 4% of the population. Supposedly.

But I was having a conversation about it with someone the other day, and they made a good point. They pointed out that the "best parts" in watching contact sports like football, hockey, MMA, etc... are the big blows. They then said "is it really abnormal to enjoy watching others get hurt?"

This stumped me. While I personally don't take enjoymeny from watching that in sports, or even in movies where people are only getting pretend hurt, I must admit that MANY seemingly normal, non sociopathic people do. The popularity of MMA, by itself, is testimony to this... and how everyone cheers and gets excited when a football player gets a major blow, etc.
.
And then I thought about the Colloseum in Ancient Rome, and how popular that was - watching people get eaten alive by animals or forced to kill each other with primitive weapons. It was fun for people. Thanks to a Netflix doc, I learned a few weeks ago that 40% of internet porn being viewed depicts violence against women. 40%! And people jerk off to that. And then I thought about the popularity of the Saw movies and how sadistic they are.
.
What to make of this? I mean, if so many people enjoy watching others in pain in one form or another, is sociopathy even a thing?? How in the world is it so normal to enjoy watching other people's pain if we supposedly have empathy?

I don’t think there’s comparison between a person who enjoys torturing an innocent being who begs for mercy, and people who enjoy watching MMA , which has willing participants that can quit a fight at any time and walk in feeling proud and powerful. I mean... how? And in the movies SAW (which I can’t watch), people know they’re acting. If it was live footage of actual torture, I’d say viewers are in fact sick. I just fail to see where watching contact sports or movies can compare to a sociopath mentality or prove lack of empathy.

I know one is consensual and the other isn't (and then there's just acting) but the point is there is still enjoyment in watching others get hurt.

[energizer bunny]

The thing about MMA, boxing, and movies is that its rare that anyone gets severely hurt other than a few minor injuries. You're probably more likely to get injured in soccer. I don't watch combat sports nearly as much as i use to but the last time i remember someone getting severely hurt was when Anderson Silva threw that kick and broke his shin. I definitely didn't enjoy seeing that. Fights are often stop before anyone gets hurt that badly. Partaking in boxing or jiu jitsu can be compared to like a game of chess.

[Edwardo Piet]

Another thing is, pain and hurt is different to suffering. Some people enjoy activities that cause themselves pain and hurt, but they certainly don't suffer during those activities or they'd be incapable of enjoying them.

[ignoramus]

I'm with CL on this ... There's some sort of macabre voyeuristic thing going on in the subconscious. The same mechanism which forces people to rubberneck at serious road accidents.
Is it a part of normal healthy human nature?

I'd like to see all kick boxing and boxing sports banned ...Especially boxing at the Olympics...

[Edwardo Piet]

I misread "kick boxing" as "box ticking" lol.

. . . that moment when your attention span is so short you totally skip reading words properly lol.