I'm a bit of a discount-bin psychology nerd myself.... can you link me to study you're referencing? The only similar one I'm familiar with is the 2014 experiment undertaken by the psychology department at UVA![]()
Well since @JohnDB is apparently busy, I'll just post a link to the UVA study here in case anyone is interested.
Doing Something is Better Than Doing Nothing for Most...
Most people are just not comfortable in their own heads, according to a new psychological investigation led by the University of Virginia.
The study, in a nutshell, found that when placed in a room without outside stimulus such as phones, books, paper, pens etc. And told to think for up to 15 minutes, some subjects preferred to shock themselves. One did so 190 times.
No link between the desire to shock (or lack thereof) and psychopathy was made. It sounds like all the subjects were presumed psychologically normal.
However, the study did find that there was a strong link between shocking yourself and Y chromosomes.
67% of males went for the zap and only 25% of females.
