Have you ever wondered why some people seem to enjoy experiences that most of us would find unpleasant or even distressing? Why do some people savor the burn of spicy food, feel exhilarated after a heart-pounding horror movie, or find a peculiar satisfaction in the soreness after an intense workout?
A new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality sheds light on these curious phenomena, revealing that a disposition known as benign masochism is linked to a greater preference for experiences that are highly arousing and negatively valenced—in other words, experiences that are intense and seemingly negative but ultimately lead to pleasure.
Benign masochism refers to the tendency to find pleasure in experiences that are initially perceived as unpleasant or threatening. While it’s a common behavior—manifested in actions like watching sad movies that make us cry or engaging in physically demanding activities for the sheer challenge—it has not been extensively studied in the context of actively seeking out such experiences to derive pleasure.
This gap in research sparked curiosity among scientists who sought to investigate whether individuals with masochistic tendencies truly seek out aversive experiences to enjoy them.
“I find it fascinating that some people enjoy unpleasant experiences. And even more fascinating that they would seek such experiences on their own,” explained study author Karolina Dyduch-Hazar, a postdoctoral researcher at the MOVE Lab at Julius-Maximilians-University
The researchers conducted two studies involving university undergraduates to examine the relationship between benign masochism and the preference for different types of emotional stimuli.
The first study included a sample of 285 participants who completed the Benign Masochism Scale along with an experimental task. The Benign Masochism Scale is a psychometric tool developed to assess an individual’s tendency to derive pleasure from experiences that are typically considered unpleasant or aversive. It measures enjoyment across various domains of suffering, such as experiencing sadness from novels, the burn from spicy foods, or the discomfort from engaging in physically exhausting activities.
For the experimental task, participants were exposed to a series of video clips selected from the Database of Emotional Videos from Ottawa (DEVO). These clips represented different combinations of arousal and valence, including high arousal with positive valence (e.g., a laughing woman), low arousal with positive valence (e.g., a forest scene), low arousal with negative valence (e.g., garbage), and high arousal with negative valence (e.g., a vomiting man).
Participants engaged in an interactive task designed to assess their aesthetic preferences. They were first familiarized with the content of each video category through sample clips. Then, they were allowed to choose which category of video they wished to watch in each of twenty trials, thereby revealing their preference for certain types of emotional stimuli. After viewing each clip, participants reported their current levels of affect and arousal using the Self-Assessment Manikin, a tool for measuring emotional response.
The researchers found that video clips with high arousal and positive valence — depicting, for instance, joyful or exciting scenes — were the most selected and re-watched by participants overall.
But individuals high in benign masochism demonstrated 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, like serene beach walks. This confirms that those with higher levels of benign masochism are drawn to more intense and seemingly unpleasant experiences.
Individuals high in benign masochism not only sought out these aversive experiences more frequently but also derived greater pleasure from them compared to their counterparts lower in benign masochism.
Notably, no participant chose to re-watch any clip characterized by low arousal and negative valence, suggesting a general disinterest in less intense negative experiences.
“Participants preferred to watch clips characterized by negative valence and high arousal (e.g., vomiting man) rather than clips characterized by negative valence and low arousal (e.g., passing snake). I suppose this is because such clips are more entertaining, and we are curious creatures,” Dyduch-Hazar told PsyPost.
The second study, which included 262 participants, replicated the first but included a measure for sensation seeking to ensure the observed effects were unique to benign masochism. Despite the similarities in procedure, this study did not find a direct link between benign masochism and the choice of aversive experiences. However, when data from both studies were analyzed together, a clearer picture emerged: across both studies, benign masochism predicted a greater preference for emotionally aversive experiences.
“Some people, more than others, seek aversive or repulsive experiences even if alternatives are available,” Dyduch-Hazar said explained. “They do so because such experiences make them feel good.”
But the study, like all research, includes limitations. For example, the reliance on self-reported measures of affect could introduce bias or inaccuracies in how participants assess and communicate their emotional states. Additionally, the study’s use of a university student sample, predominantly female, raises questions about the generalizability of the findings to broader, more diverse populations.
“Our findings provide the evidence for the pillar of the concept of benign masochism,” Dyduch-Hazar said. “Our study shows that benign masochists seek aversive emotional experiences to feel pleasure. Yet we still know little about emotional regulation among masochistic individuals.”
“For instance, it remains unclear what are the broader motives for their regulatory actions. Except from feeling more pleasure, benign masochists can seek aversive experiences to learn more about themselves or to know more about the world.”
It is also important to note that benign masochism and sexual masochism, while sharing the term “masochism,” refer to distinct concepts that differ primarily in their context and expression.
“Some of us might associate benign masochism with a sexual masochism disorder in which a person experiences sexual excitement from being abused,” Dyduch-Hazar explained. “However, it turns out that masochism is rather an everyday phenomenon.”
“For example, people derive pleasure from painful deep tissue massages or visit interactive horror houses where they pay to feel scared and terrified. I had an opportunity to visit such a house once and it was a truly enjoyable experience. This joy came from realizing that I was fooled by my body – the threat or suffering was actually distant.”
The study, “Affective Preferences in Benign Masochism,” was authored by Karolina Dyduch-Hazar and Vanessa Mitschke.
