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wedrifid comments on Open thread, September 9-15, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: Metus 09 September 2013 04:50AM

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Comment author: wedrifid 13 September 2013 12:15:27PM *  1 point [-]

I'm surprised it's as low as 25%, but they only tested for liking to hurt insects. I suspect that the proportion would be a good bit higher for liking to hurt mammals, and likewise for liking to hurt low-status humans, and possibly for liking to lower the status of high-status humans.

Calling the last one or two 'sadistic' would be something of a stretch. The impulse to lower the status of another seems rather independent of sadism. That seems to be a straightforward social politics heuristic.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 13 September 2013 12:24:17PM 1 point [-]

You lower people's status by hurting them, especially by hurting them and getting away with it. I think people show evidence of pleasure in doing so.

After all, if there's a lot of a behavior, it's likely to either cause pleasure or relieve pain.

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