The Pleasure of Being Aggressive in Male Incarcerated Criminals

Abstract

Maximization of pleasure (hedonicity) is a major mechanism in human decision-making by optimizing behavior, as previous research has shown on both sensory pleasure and purely mental pleasure (such as playing videogames or solving mathematical problems). Our group also documented that pleasure is a major factor in decision-making in social situations related to interpersonal aggression: people tend to make aggressive behavioral decisions as a function of the resulting pleasure. The present study tried to verify whether this trend was also found in inmates. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation on the relationship between pleasure and aggression performed in a prison. Fifty three male inmates in a Spanish prison condemned for severe legal transgressions and serving long detention were compared with seventy five male university students who served as controls. They responded to self-reported questionnaires devised to examine how hedonicity influences decision-making in the case of aggressiveness. Socially conflictive situations were described, with four alternative options ranging from passive to highly aggressive response. A similar bell-shaped trend was present in both populations -aggressive behaviors of medium intensity were rated as significantly less unpleasant than the most passive and most aggressive behaviors-, even though the degree of hedonicity was significantly higher in the inmates, who rated mild and moderate aggressive responses as pleasurable. Inmates also voted for an unexpected lower of aggressiveness than controls, which may be explained by social desirability. Conclusion: the sametrend is found in both populations: mild aggressive behavior may be pleasurable to the aggressor, but only up to a certain level. But this seems to be stronger in inmates: they showed hedonicity when experiencing higher level of aggression. Such a result is consistent with a fundamental role of hedonicity in decision making.

Aggression, Pleasure, and Cognitive Dissonance

“…Cabanac and his group [17] suggest that cognitive dissonance may also be a possible mechanism for explaining the results found in our previous studies on the pleasure of aggressive behavior [7,8,14,15,22]. According to these results, the difference between aggressive and nonaggressive people would partially be found in their values, in their acceptance of the social norms, and consequently in the higher or lower need of reducing the tension caused by discordance between pleasure and aggression.…”

“…Applying the same methodology to inmates, it was shown that their election also shared a higher satisfaction or pleasure, even if this specific population was more prone to violence than the general population: they tended to solve conflicts by more aggressive means [14,15]. Such a result is consistent with a fundamental role of hedonia in decisionmaking, showing that the trend to maximize pleasure or minimize displeasure when it comes to make an aggressive decision is indeed a deeply rooted mechanism of decisionmaking that largely transcends cultural biases or pathological borderlines.…”

“…Aggressive Behavior and Pleasure questionnaires, originally designed and repeatedly used in previous research by our group [7,8,14,15,22]: a) Pleasure was assessed with a questionnaire on fifteen minor social conflicts, exploring the hedonistic valence they aroused. The items in this questionnaire placed the participants in different conflict situations, describing an incident that could be seen as insulting, upsetting, or offensive.…”

“…b) The degree of association between aggression and pleasure was assessed from a Decision Questionnaire designed also by us [14,15]. To evaluate preference for a given aggressive response to a situation, the same fifteen situations of the Pleasure Questionnaire were presented.…”

The Pleasure of Aggressiveness Among Inmates in Preventive and Long-Term Detention

“…In previous studies on a 'normal' population (Ramírez et al , 2005 and on inmates serving longterm for severe crimes (Ramírez, Millana, Toldos-Romero, Bonniot-Cabanac, & Cabanac, 2007), both groups rated mildly aggressive behaviours as pleasant and selected them as their preferred responses to mild social conflicts. These similar results were congruent with our previous analysis on justification of aggression in different cultures suggesting a certain universal moral code, common to all humans (Ramírez, 1991(Ramírez, , 1993(Ramírez, , 2007bRamírez, Lagerspetz et al 2001).…”