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The relationship to pain and unpleasant experiences varies from person to person. Some even find pleasure in it. How can this be explained? A new study sheds light on this curious phenomenon.
Eating very spicy food, watching a horror movie, engaging in intensive sports training… These experiences, at first glance, do not seem to provide pleasure but rather an unpleasant sensation. However, some people seem to experience a particular satisfaction from them. A new study published in the Journal of Research in Personalitylooks at this curious phenomenon, linked to a form of benign masochism.
What is benign masochism?
This type of masochism refers to finding pleasure in common experiences that are initially perceived as unpleasant or threatening, such as watching a sad movie. However, there are few in-depth studies to date on the paradox of pleasure in pain. That is why German researchers decided to take an interest in it. “JI find it fascinating that some people have unpleasant experiences. And it’s even more fascinating that they seek out such experiences for themselves.”explained study author Karolina Dyduch-Hazar, a postdoctoral researcher at the MOVE Lab at Julius Maximilians University.
Feeling good in your body, feeling good in your head!
Whale killings as an example
Part of the research was carried out on a sample of 285 participants, exposed to a series of so-called emotional video clips. These clips, different from each other, combined varying degrees of excitement and valence (positive or negative).
The researchers found that video clips with high arousal and positive valence, such as depicting happy or exciting scenes, were the most selected and rewatched by all participants.
But individuals with mild masochism showed a significant preference for video clips characterized by high arousal and negative valence, such as scenes depicting whale slaughter. Conversely, they showed less interest in clips with low arousal and positive valence, such as walks on the beach. This confirms that those with higher levels of mild masochism are attracted to more intense and apparently unpleasant experiences.
Although the study has limitations, the authors say the results of the overall study “provide evidence of the pillar of the concept of benign masochism”.
Slideshow: Kamasutra SM