What is the study about: The paper tests whether boredom is linked to sadistic tendencies to harm others for pleasure. Study 1 represents a correlational test of whether people who are chronically prone to boredom in everyday life also report more sadistic tendencies. Participants complete a boredom proneness scale and a sadism scale, plus dark and basic personality measures. The authors also test whether the boredom-sadism relationship holds beyond these personality models, including neuroticism as a proxy for general negative affect.
Suggested number of participants: 100
Can it be conducted online: YES
Mandatory data analyses: Correlational analyses
Note: Sensitive content – some sadism questions describe hurting other people.
The CREP team advice:
(The mentors are obliged to read the full paper before committing to the replication)
Participants complete the following measures:
- Boredom proneness: the 8-item scale (1 = “I completely disagree” to 5 or 7 = “I completely agree”)
- Sadism: the 5-item scale (1 = “I completely disagree” to 5 or 7 = “I completely agree”)
- Dark Triad: 27-item Short Dark Triad – narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy; 9 items each (1 = “I completely disagree” to 5 or 7 = “I completely agree”)
- Personality: the 60-item HEXACO-PI-R (1 = “I completely disagree” to 5 or 7 = “I completely agree”)
Results obtained in the paper:
Boredom proneness correlated positively with sadism. This relationship persisted even when controlling for the Dark Triad, basic personality traits, and gender and age. The authors especially highlight the negative relationship between boredom and sadism also emerged beyond neuroticism, so it cannot be reduced to general negative affect.