Most people experience some degree of discomfort when they witness another person's suffering. For others, however, humiliation, distress or cruelty can become a source of amusement or satisfaction. Psychology describes this tendency as sadism, a personality trait that reveals a particularly troubling aspect of human motivation.
In personality research, this trait is often called everyday sadism, reflecting its study in general-population samples and ordinary social situations.
Cruelty is a familiar feature of human behaviour, appearing in circumstances ranging from childhood bullying and workplace intimidation to deliberate humiliation, malicious pranks and more serious forms of abuse. Yet cruel behaviour does not always arise from the same psychological motives. Someone may hurt another person through anger, revenge, competition or the pursuit of personal advantage. Others may cause harm through recklessness or indifference, without giving much consideration to the consequences of their actions. There is, however, another possibility: that an individual finds the suffering itself enjoyable, and that causing or witnessing another person's distress provides a sense of pleasure, amusement or satisfaction.
This tendency lies at the centre of sadism, a personality trait characterised by the enjoyment of cruelty, humiliation or another person's suffering. Individuals with elevated sadistic tendencies may find satisfaction in provoking emotional reactions, witnessing distress or exercising power over someone who is vulnerable. Their behaviour can range from relatively subtle forms of malicious teasing and deliberate embarrassment to more serious acts of intimidation and aggression. What distinguishes sadism from ordinary selfishness or emotional indifference is the rewarding quality of the suffering itself. The distress experienced by another person is not merely an unfortunate consequence of pursuing some other objective; it may form part of the reason the individual engages in the behaviour.
The term sadism derives from the Marquis de Sade, the eighteenth-century French aristocrat and writer whose fictional works frequently depicted cruelty, domination and the pursuit of pleasure through the suffering of others. Although his name became associated with extreme sexual and violent behaviour, modern personality psychology has expanded the concept to include less dramatic expressions of cruelty within ordinary social life. Everyday sadism is therefore not restricted to physical aggression, sexual behaviour or criminal acts. It can also concern the satisfaction someone derives from embarrassing a colleague, provoking a stranger or repeatedly upsetting another person for amusement.
Everyday sadism is the fourth characteristic in the Dark Tetrad of personality, alongside Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. Its inclusion reflects an important distinction between different forms of antagonistic behaviour. A calculating person may exploit others for material advantage, a narcissistic individual may humiliate a rival to defend their sense of superiority, and someone displaying psychopathic callousness may cause harm while experiencing relatively little remorse. A person with elevated sadistic tendencies, by contrast, may derive pleasure directly from the discomfort or suffering of the person affected. These motivations can overlap, but the element of enjoyment makes sadism psychologically distinctive.
Core characteristics
The defining characteristic of sadism is the positive emotional response associated with another person's suffering. Most people generally prefer pleasant social interactions and experience at least some discomfort when they realise that their behaviour is causing unnecessary distress. Someone with elevated sadistic tendencies may respond differently, particularly when another person's discomfort becomes entertaining or provides an opportunity to feel powerful. A distressed reaction, rather than discouraging further provocation, may encourage it because the reaction itself is experienced as rewarding.
Consider someone who repeatedly makes humiliating remarks about a colleague during social gatherings. The remarks may initially appear to be harmless jokes, but the person continues even after recognising that their colleague is genuinely embarrassed or upset. Indeed, the embarrassment may be precisely what makes the situation enjoyable. The individual may take pleasure in the colleague's discomfort, in the laughter of other people or in the ability to provoke a reaction that the target cannot easily control. The psychologically important feature is not simply the presence of teasing, which is common in ordinary social relationships, but the extent to which another person's unwanted distress becomes part of the desired outcome.
Sadistic behaviour can also involve a sense of control or dominance. Making someone uncomfortable demonstrates an ability to influence their emotional experience, while placing another person in a humiliating position can create an unequal relationship in which one individual possesses power over the other. For someone who finds such circumstances rewarding, the sense of superiority or control may intensify the enjoyment of cruelty. However, dominance and sadism are not identical. A person may seek authority without enjoying another person's distress, just as someone may find malicious amusement in another person's discomfort without possessing much social power.
An important feature of everyday sadism is that cruelty may be pursued even when it offers little practical advantage. Someone may continue provoking another person despite gaining nothing obvious from the interaction, simply because the resulting frustration or embarrassment is entertaining. This willingness to pursue suffering as an end in itself distinguishes sadistic motivation from forms of aggression directed primarily towards obtaining resources, defending status or retaliating against an offence. The individual may be seeking not a tangible reward, but a particular emotional experience.
One of the more revealing aspects of everyday sadism is that the suffering of another person can itself become a source of positive emotion. Ordinarily, recognising someone's distress encourages sympathy, discomfort or a desire to stop the behaviour responsible. For individuals with stronger sadistic tendencies, however, the emotional response can be different. Another person's embarrassment, fear or frustration may produce excitement, amusement or satisfaction, particularly when the individual believes they have caused the reaction themselves.
Psychological research provides some support for this interpretation. In a series of eight studies published in 2019, David Chester and colleagues found that participants with higher sadism scores were more inclined towards certain forms of aggression and experienced more positive feelings during aggressive interactions. Importantly, this enjoyment was associated with believing that their actions had genuinely caused another person to suffer. The findings suggest that cruelty can sometimes be reinforced by the satisfaction it produces, helping explain why certain individuals continue to provoke or harm others even when little practical advantage is available.
This does not mean that sadistic individuals experience permanent pleasure from cruelty or that harmful behaviour inevitably produces a lasting improvement in mood. The same research found that greater sadistic tendencies could also be associated with increased negative feelings after aggression. The relationship between aggression and emotional reward is therefore more complicated than a simple association between causing pain and feeling happy. Nevertheless, the prospect of immediate satisfaction may help motivate behaviour whose longer-term consequences are damaging to relationships, reputation or the individual's own wellbeing.
The precise neurological mechanisms underlying sadistic enjoyment remain under investigation. Although reward-related brain processes have been studied in connection with aggression, existing research does not establish that everyday sadism can be explained by a single brain region or a universal neurological response. The more useful psychological observation is that another person's distress, which ordinarily discourages cruelty, may sometimes become an incentive for further provocation.
Forms of everyday sadism
Sadism can be expressed in several ways, and its manifestations are not confined to physical aggression. Direct verbal sadism involves deriving satisfaction from personally causing emotional discomfort through insults, mockery, humiliation or other forms of verbal cruelty. Someone may deliberately identify another person's insecurities and exploit them through jokes, public criticism or repeated provocation. In some circumstances, this behaviour may be presented as harmless humour, allowing the person responsible to dismiss objections by claiming that the target is oversensitive. The crucial distinction is whether the interaction is mutually enjoyable or whether one person's unwanted distress is contributing to the other's amusement.
Direct physical sadism concerns enjoyment derived from physically hurting or intimidating another person. It is more closely associated with overt aggression and can involve substantially more serious harm. However, physical sadism should not be regarded as the inevitable progression of verbal cruelty, nor should everyone who enjoys malicious teasing be assumed likely to become physically aggressive. Individuals differ in their inhibitions, opportunities, personal values and other personality characteristics, all of which influence whether an underlying tendency is expressed through behaviour.
A third form, sometimes called vicarious sadism, concerns enjoyment derived from observing another person's suffering rather than personally causing it. Someone might find humiliation, intimidation or violence entertaining, particularly when they believe the victim's distress is genuine. However, researchers continue to debate how closely this passive enjoyment belongs to the central concept of sadism, particularly because it overlaps with schadenfreude and other forms of emotional response to misfortune. Enjoying fictional violence, competitive sport or dramatic entertainment should not automatically be interpreted as vicarious sadism, since the circumstances and reasons for enjoyment can be very different.
These distinctions illustrate how sadistic tendencies can appear across different situations without necessarily involving the extreme behaviour commonly associated with the term. An individual who enjoys humiliating others in conversation may exhibit a different pattern from someone attracted to physical aggression, while another person may prefer observing malicious behaviour without personally participating. What connects the tendencies is the possibility that someone else's suffering becomes rewarding, although the precise boundaries between these expressions remain a subject of psychological research.
Sadism and schadenfreude
One of the most important distinctions is between everyday sadism and schadenfreude, the German term describing pleasure experienced at another person's misfortune. Schadenfreude is a familiar human emotion, particularly in situations involving rivalry, competition or perceived justice. Someone may feel satisfaction when an arrogant opponent suffers an embarrassing defeat, when a dishonest public figure is exposed or when an unpleasant colleague experiences a minor setback. Although such reactions may not be especially generous, they do not necessarily indicate an enduring sadistic personality characteristic.
The distinction concerns the circumstances and motivations associated with the pleasure. Schadenfreude often arises when something unfortunate happens to another person, particularly when the observer regards the outcome as deserved or beneficial to their own position. Sadism, by comparison, is more closely concerned with the enjoyment of suffering itself and, especially, the motivation to cause or prolong that suffering. Someone experiencing schadenfreude may be pleased that a rival has lost a competition, while a person with elevated sadistic tendencies may find particular enjoyment in the rival's visible humiliation and seek opportunities to intensify it.
Nevertheless, the two characteristics are related, and their boundaries are not entirely settled. Research published in 2025 by Drew Parton and David Chester examined their underlying structure and found evidence that both belong to a broader tendency towards enjoying harm. Their analyses also suggested an important distinction between the more active pursuit of suffering associated with sadism and the more passive enjoyment of misfortune associated with schadenfreude. The findings were not uniform across all statistical approaches, but they reinforce the idea that the two concepts overlap without necessarily being identical.
A useful distinction is therefore between satisfaction at an outcome and enjoyment of unnecessary suffering. Being pleased that someone who behaved dishonestly has been held accountable is not equivalent to taking pleasure in their distress for its own sake. The emotional meaning depends upon what the individual finds rewarding, why they find it rewarding and whether they are inclined to cause or prolong the suffering when an opportunity arises.
Bullying, power and online trolling
Bullying provides one context in which sadistic tendencies may become visible, although not everyone who bullies others is motivated by enjoyment of cruelty. Bullying can arise through a desire for status, conformity to group expectations, resentment, prejudice or attempts to establish dominance. Some individuals may intimidate others primarily to obtain a practical advantage, while others may participate because they fear becoming targets themselves. For a person with elevated sadistic tendencies, however, the victim's embarrassment, fear or emotional distress may constitute an important source of enjoyment.
This distinction can influence how the behaviour develops. When another person's reaction is rewarding, signs of discomfort may encourage further provocation rather than discourage it. An individual may repeatedly target someone who is particularly sensitive, vulnerable or unable to retaliate, not necessarily because the target has done anything to provoke the hostility, but because their responses are satisfying to observe. In group situations, laughter and encouragement from bystanders can reinforce the behaviour, creating a social environment in which humiliation becomes a form of entertainment.
Sadistic tendencies can also appear in relationships characterised by unequal power. A teacher, manager or other authority figure may possess legitimate responsibilities for maintaining discipline and enforcing rules, yet those responsibilities can also provide opportunities for unnecessary humiliation or intimidation. When someone repeatedly imposes degrading treatment, particularly while appearing to enjoy the distress it produces, their behaviour may illustrate the darker aspects of this personality characteristic. However, harsh discipline and abusive behaviour can arise from several motivations, including anger, prejudice, authoritarian attitudes and the desire for obedience. Establishing that an individual enjoys suffering requires more than observing that they have exercised power harshly.
The effects on those targeted can be substantial. Repeated humiliation and deliberate provocation may damage confidence, undermine trust and create anxiety about future interactions. When a person discovers that expressing distress encourages rather than discourages further mistreatment, they may begin to conceal their emotions or withdraw from social situations. This makes the rewarding nature of cruelty particularly troubling: the ordinary signals that might encourage sympathy or restraint can instead become incentives for continued aggression.
The internet provides numerous opportunities for individuals to provoke, humiliate or upset others while remaining physically distant from the consequences. Online anonymity, large audiences and the ease of repeated interaction can make malicious behaviour particularly attractive to people who enjoy causing distress. Insulting strangers, deliberately provoking arguments and encouraging others to react angrily can become forms of entertainment, especially when the person responsible experiences satisfaction from watching the resulting conflict.
One particularly relevant behaviour is internet trolling, in which an individual deliberately attempts to provoke, deceive or disrupt others for amusement. Trolling can involve inflammatory comments, persistent insults, malicious jokes or attempts to draw people into arguments that the instigator has no genuine interest in resolving. The behaviour may be presented as humour or harmless mischief, but its rewarding element can lie in the frustration and emotional reactions of those being targeted.
Research has found an association between sadistic personality tendencies and enjoyment of trolling. In a 2014 study, Erin Buckels and her colleagues examined online behaviour and found that sadism was particularly strongly associated with trolling enjoyment and identification with trolling behaviour. The relationship was more specific than a general preference for spending time online or participating in discussions. This does not mean that everyone who argues online, posts provocative opinions or enjoys irreverent humour possesses sadistic traits. The relevant distinction concerns whether someone is attempting to exchange ideas, entertain others or challenge an argument, as opposed to deliberately producing distress because the reaction itself is satisfying.
Online harassment can also be particularly harmful when directed towards vulnerable individuals or people already experiencing emotional distress. The ability to conceal one's identity, target strangers and repeatedly provoke reactions can create circumstances in which the perpetrator feels detached from the consequences of their actions. Yet anonymity alone does not explain malicious behaviour, and many people use anonymous communication responsibly. What makes certain forms of trolling relevant to sadism is the possibility that the emotional injury inflicted becomes part of the intended entertainment.
Humiliation and entertainment
An interesting extension of the subject concerns the popularity of entertainment built around embarrassment, ridicule and public humiliation. Television programmes, comedy performances and online videos sometimes invite audiences to laugh at people who appear awkward, overconfident or unaware of how others perceive them. In some circumstances, the humour arises from harmless incongruity or the exaggeration of ordinary social situations. In others, the entertainment may depend partly upon watching someone experience genuine embarrassment, disappointment or distress.
The distinction becomes particularly interesting when the person being ridiculed has little control over the situation or does not appear to understand how their behaviour will be presented to an audience. Viewers may find an embarrassing performance amusing without wishing the person any lasting harm, while others may take satisfaction in the visible discomfort or humiliation itself. These different reactions are difficult to distinguish through behaviour alone, because laughter can arise from many psychological processes. Nevertheless, public humiliation provides a useful context for considering the boundary between ordinary amusement, schadenfreude and the enjoyment of suffering.
It would be excessive to suggest that enjoying reality television, awkward comedy or videos of minor mishaps is evidence of sadistic personality. Entertainment is shaped by context, expectations, consent and the viewer's understanding of whether real harm has occurred. The psychologically significant question is not simply whether someone laughs at an embarrassing event, but whether another person's genuine and unwanted distress is itself an important source of enjoyment.
Historical and fictional examples
Sadistic behaviour has appeared as a theme in literature, political history and popular culture for centuries. Fictional characters are particularly useful because their motivations can be explored directly within a story, allowing readers to distinguish cruelty motivated by enjoyment from aggression pursued for other purposes. Historical cases present a greater difficulty: even when abusive behaviour is clearly documented, it is not always possible to establish whether the person responsible experienced pleasure from the suffering they caused. The following examples therefore illustrate behaviours and fictional representations relevant to sadism rather than establishing definitive psychological classifications.
Dolores Umbridge — The Harry Potter series. Umbridge is a particularly memorable illustration of cruelty concealed beneath an outward appearance of politeness, respectability and concern for rules. As an authority figure at Hogwarts, she imposes humiliating and painful punishments while maintaining a superficially pleasant manner. Her use of a magical quill that cuts into a student's hand as they write lines illustrates how cruelty can be disguised as legitimate discipline. The character appears to take satisfaction in exercising control and making others uncomfortable, providing a vivid example of how sadistic tendencies may be expressed through institutional authority rather than uncontrolled aggression.
Nurse Ratched — One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Nurse Ratched exercises authority over psychiatric patients through rigid institutional procedures, emotional pressure and the exploitation of personal vulnerabilities. Her outward composure contrasts with the humiliation and psychological distress that can result from her methods, particularly when patients' private insecurities are exposed during group interactions. The character illustrates how cruelty can become embedded within seemingly legitimate systems of discipline or treatment. However, her behaviour can also be interpreted as reflecting an intense concern with obedience, authority and institutional control, rather than an unequivocal enjoyment of suffering. This ambiguity makes her useful for distinguishing sadistic motivation from other forms of coercive behaviour.
Regina George — Mean Girls. Regina provides a recognisable example of cruelty expressed through social relationships rather than physical aggression. As the dominant member of a popular school friendship group, she uses gossip, exclusion, humiliation and the manipulation of social standing to influence those around her. The notorious Burn Book illustrates how personal information and insults can be used to embarrass others and damage relationships. Regina's apparent amusement at the discomfort she creates makes her a useful fictional illustration of malicious social behaviour, although her actions also involve status-seeking, jealousy and retaliation. She demonstrates how everyday cruelty can operate through reputation, friendships and public embarrassment.
Sean Duffy (born circa 1986) — British man convicted of malicious online communications. In 2011, Duffy was sentenced to eighteen weeks in prison after admitting offences involving malicious messages directed at online memorial pages for deceased teenagers. His conduct included posting offensive comments and manipulated material mocking the deaths of young people, causing considerable distress to grieving relatives and friends. The case illustrates the serious harm that can result from malicious online provocation, particularly when vulnerable people are targeted without any apparent practical benefit to the offender. It is relevant to the study of everyday sadism because it demonstrates how emotional suffering can become the focus of deliberate harassment, although the court findings do not establish that pleasure in suffering was Duffy's sole motivation or that he possessed a particular psychological personality profile.
These examples illustrate several different forms of behaviour relevant to sadism: cruelty disguised as discipline, psychological intimidation through institutional authority, malicious social humiliation and deliberate online harassment. They are particularly useful because none requires the elaborate physical violence commonly associated with fictional psychopaths or sadists. At the same time, they demonstrate the difficulty of identifying sadistic motivation from outward conduct alone. Someone may behave cruelly because they enjoy another person's suffering, but similar actions can also arise from anger, revenge, prejudice, the desire for control or attempts to maintain social standing.
Sadism and aggression
Although sadism is closely associated with the enjoyment of harm, the relationship between sadistic tendencies and overt aggression is not automatic. Some individuals may enjoy relatively minor forms of humiliation or emotional discomfort without engaging in serious aggression. Others may display stronger aggressive tendencies, particularly when opportunities arise to harm someone without immediate consequences. The degree of risk depends upon numerous factors, including impulse control, social circumstances, access to potential victims and the presence of other antagonistic personality characteristics.
Psychological research has identified a meaningful connection between sadistic tendencies and aggression. Experiments examining willingness to harm others have found that people reporting stronger sadistic characteristics may be more inclined to engage in aggression, including in circumstances where the target has not provoked them. Particularly revealing is evidence that some individuals are willing to expend effort for an opportunity to cause harm, suggesting that cruelty can be pursued as a goal rather than merely accepted as a consequence of another activity. These findings support the distinction between aggression motivated by enjoyment and aggression arising primarily from anger, fear or self-interest.
Nevertheless, an association between sadism and aggression does not mean that every person with elevated sadistic tendencies will engage in violence. Nor does it follow that every aggressive or violent person enjoys causing suffering. Someone might lash out during an argument because they are frightened, angry or unable to control an immediate reaction, while another person might use aggression instrumentally to obtain something they want. Sadism is distinguished by the pleasure associated with the suffering, not merely by the presence or severity of the aggressive act.
Sadism, sexuality and consent
The word sadism often carries sexual associations, partly because of its historical origins and its use in discussions of sexual behaviour. Everyday sadism, however, is a distinct concept concerned with finding cruelty or another person's suffering rewarding in ordinary interpersonal situations. A person can exhibit sadistic personality tendencies without experiencing sexual excitement from suffering, and the presence of sexual interests involving dominance or pain does not automatically imply everyday sadism.
It is particularly important to distinguish everyday sadism from consensual sexual activities involving negotiated power or pain. In consensual BDSM relationships, participants may engage in activities involving intense sensations or dominance within mutually agreed boundaries. Consent, communication and concern for the other person's wellbeing fundamentally alter the interpersonal meaning of such behaviour. Research comparing BDSM-related sadistic interests with everyday sadism has found important differences, suggesting that consensual forms of pain-related enjoyment should not simply be equated with antagonistic enjoyment of non-consensual suffering.
The essential feature of everyday sadism is not the mere presence of pain, intensity or dominance, but the enjoyment of another person's unwanted suffering or distress. A behaviour that is consensual and mutually rewarding should not be treated as psychologically equivalent to deliberately humiliating, intimidating or harming someone who does not wish to participate.
Sadism and the other dark traits
Sadism shares important characteristics with the other members of the Dark Tetrad, particularly antagonism, reduced concern for others and a willingness to engage in harmful behaviour. Nevertheless, each trait places a different emphasis on the motivations underlying that behaviour. Machiavellianism is associated with calculated manipulation and the strategic pursuit of personal advantage, while narcissism concerns self-importance, entitlement and the pursuit or defence of superiority. Psychopathy-related characteristics can involve callousness, limited remorse and impulsivity. Sadism, by comparison, is distinguished by the pleasure associated with another person's suffering.
Consider a person who deliberately humiliates a colleague in front of others. Someone displaying Machiavellian tendencies might do so to weaken a professional rival or improve their own position. A person motivated by narcissistic rivalry might respond to a perceived insult by attempting to restore their superiority. Someone displaying psychopathy-related callousness might simply disregard the distress caused by their actions. A person with elevated sadistic tendencies, however, may find the colleague's embarrassment or emotional pain satisfying in itself, potentially continuing the behaviour because the reaction is enjoyable.
These distinctions are not absolute, and the same individual may possess several antagonistic characteristics simultaneously. Someone might enjoy humiliating another person while also gaining status or personal advantage from doing so. Likewise, callousness may make cruelty easier to engage in by reducing emotional concern for the victim, while sadistic enjoyment provides an additional motivation to continue. The traits are therefore related, but the enjoyment of suffering offers a useful conceptual distinction between sadism and other forms of interpersonal antagonism.
Understanding everyday sadism
Everyday sadism exists along a continuum rather than dividing people into two distinct categories. Someone with relatively low levels of the trait may experience discomfort when witnessing another person's distress and generally avoid activities that cause unnecessary suffering. Someone with elevated tendencies may be more inclined to find humiliation, provocation or cruelty entertaining, particularly under circumstances where the behaviour is socially permitted, encouraged or unlikely to attract serious consequences. Most people fall somewhere between these extremes, and their responses are influenced by other personality characteristics, personal values and social circumstances.
The presence of sadistic tendencies should not be inferred from a single joke, an isolated angry reaction or enjoyment of fictional violence. Human emotional responses are complicated, and people sometimes experience amusement at minor misfortunes, satisfaction at perceived justice or excitement during competitive activities without possessing a persistent desire to cause suffering. What is more relevant is a recurring pattern in which another person's genuine discomfort becomes an important source of pleasure, particularly when the individual deliberately creates or prolongs that discomfort.
Nor does an elevated sadism score establish that a person will engage in serious aggression or criminal behaviour. Personality questionnaires measure tendencies represented by their particular questions, and individuals may differ in how willing they are to acknowledge socially undesirable attitudes. The circumstances in which someone behaves cruelly, the opportunities available to them and the restraints imposed by conscience, relationships and social expectations all influence how personality is expressed. A trait can be associated with an increased likelihood of certain behaviours without determining what any particular individual will do.
Ultimately, everyday sadism concerns one of the more troubling possibilities within human social behaviour: that the suffering of another person can become rewarding rather than aversive. Its significance lies in helping distinguish cruelty motivated by enjoyment from harm caused through anger, indifference, self-interest or the defence of personal status. By examining this characteristic alongside Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy, the Dark Tetrad provides a more detailed account of the different ways in which antagonistic personality tendencies can influence relationships.
Understanding sadism does not require assuming that humanity is divided into cruel people and compassionate people, or that every instance of malicious amusement reveals a fundamentally harmful personality. It requires recognising that individuals differ in how they respond to another person's distress, and that these differences can influence whether suffering encourages sympathy, indifference or further provocation. The defining feature of sadism is not simply the capacity to cause harm, but the possibility of finding that harm pleasurable.
References
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Buckels, E. E., Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2013). Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2201–2209. Read the paper
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Buckels, E. E., Trapnell, P. D., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Trolls just want to have fun. Personality and Individual Differences, 67, 97–102. Read the paper
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Chester, D. S., DeWall, C. N., & Enjaian, B. (2019). Sadism and aggressive behavior: Inflicting pain to feel pleasure. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45(8), 1252–1268. Read the paper
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Erickson, J. M., & Sagarin, B. J. (2021). The prosocial sadist? A comparison of BDSM sadism and everyday sadism. Personality and Individual Differences, 176, 110723. Read the paper
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Paulhus, D. L., Buckels, E. E., Trapnell, P. D., & Jones, D. N. (2021). Screening for dark personalities: The Short Dark Tetrad (SD4). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 37(3), 208–222. Read the paper
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Parton, D. M., & Chester, D. S. (2025). Disentangling sadism from schadenfreude as traits using latent construct modeling. Personality Science, 6. Read the paper
Historical and fictional sources
