Ever find yourself feeling compelled to squeeze a cute animal a little too tight, or to pinch the cheeks of a baby a little too hard?
Don鈥檛 worry; it鈥檚 not a sign that you鈥檙e a sadist. According to psychologist Dr. Julia Shaw, it鈥檚 a perfectly normal human reaction, and doesn鈥檛 mean you鈥檝e got dark thoughts hiding in the depths of your mind.
鈥淚t鈥檚 actually called a dimorphous display of emotion,鈥� Shaw, who鈥檚 known for her work in criminal psychology, told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning. 鈥淲hen you feel one emotion very strongly your brain pumps out the opposite feeling to make sure your brain doesn鈥檛 overload.鈥�
It鈥檚 the same process that makes people cry at happy events like weddings or laugh at sad events like funerals, she says.
The phenomenon has long been theorized, but a study released in was the first to find a neural basis for the reaction.
The study鈥檚 authors theorize that the reaction is a bottom-up mechanism and is a way of regulating positive emotions, keeping people from being so overwhelmed by an infant鈥檚 cuteness that they begin to neglect caring for it.
Instead, when confronted with cuteness, some people start to feel an urge to squeeze, crush, or bite the cute thing, though without the intent to cause harm.
It鈥檚 one of the behaviours that Shaw touches on in her new book, 鈥淓vil: The Science behind Humanity鈥檚 Dark Side,鈥� as she explores the dark side of the human mind.
From true crime documentaries to horror movies to reading about serial killers, people have always had a fascination with the darker side of humanity.
Rather than being a moral deficiency, or something to be ashamed of, Shaw says that exploring the dark side of our nature is a natural process that human beings go through.
Shaw says that people have a tendency to separate 鈥渦s鈥� and 鈥渢hem,鈥� comparing themselves to others to strengthen their self-image that they are a good person.
鈥淟ooking at serial killers, it鈥檚 like the ultimate example of a bad person,鈥� Shaw said.
But Shaw warns that people need to be careful, as that comparison act can not only be dehumanizing, but also leave people feeling too assured in their 鈥済oodness.鈥�
鈥淲e need to be careful that we鈥檙e not creating artificial boundaries,鈥� Shaw said, 鈥渂ecause I think we鈥檙e all capable of much more than we let on.鈥�
From small acts of passive aggression to full blown murder fantasies (which she says are far more common than people are willing to admit), Shaw says that all humans have dark thoughts lingering in their brain.
It鈥檚 something that makes trying to define the nebulous concept of 鈥渆vil鈥� significantly more difficult.
Shaw argues that there is no such thing as objective evil, but rather that humans make evil when we label something as such.
鈥淚 think that we all have our different notions as to what evil means and who or what behavior we would label evil,鈥� Shaw said.
What some people consider normal, others might find abhorrent. Acts like sex before marriage or eating meat may be perfectly acceptable to some, but can represent a severe moral failing to others.
Even acts like killing can be difficult to pin down, with groups like the Irish Republican Army being terrorists to some and freedom fighters to others.
That fact makes it important that people try to exercise 鈥渆vil empathy鈥� Shaw says.
Rather than simply condemning things as 鈥渆vil鈥� and shutting down the conversation, people are better off trying to think critically about why people do things.
In turbulent times, with everything from online trolls to neo-nazis weighing heavily on the minds of society, Shaw says that it鈥檚 important to try to understand why people take the actions they do.
It鈥檚 far more constructive than writing someone off as 鈥渆vil,鈥� Shaw says, because then they stop seeing the person as a person.
鈥淭rying to break it down, trying to figure out how we can understand people is always a good thing,鈥� she said.
