Our Secret Thirst For Violence

Quote of the week:

"Do you know why people like violence? It is because it feels good. Humans find violence deeply satisfying. But remove the satisfaction, and the act becomes... hollow"

-The Imitation Game

Our Attraction to Watching School Fights

It was a Friday like any other at Carrollton High School. The cafeteria was  bustling with life. Since it was one of the last lunch shifts of the day, you could always sense the hunger and unused energy of the students. Our hungry classmates were trying to make the most our of the 30 minutes of free time, before having to go back back to the drudgery of lectures and classwork. My lunch table was discussing the new debate topic, unaware of what was about to happen just outside the glass doors that led to the picnic table outside. Doctor Albertus, our school principal, was sitting in the corner of the cafeteria right behind the booth we were sitting in. It was his job to make sure everything was in order. All of a sudden, our whole table falls into complete silence as we look up to see him jump up from his chair an run outside in his suit and tie. May I say, I had never seen that man run in my entire life. We looked outside to see that there were two people on the floor punching and hitting each other violently.

Dr. Albertus got in the middle of the fight. It was clear that he was probably getting hit as he tried to break up the fight. If you asked me what happened next, I would not be able to tell you, for as this was happening, more than half of the cafeteria ran out to the glass windows to see what was happening. Some people even went outside, laughed, or pulled up their phones to record the fight and post pictures on Snapchat. 

We watched in horror, not only because of the violent fight going on outside, but also because of how people reacted. From my point of view, it seemed as if more people were concerned with cheering  on the fight and watching the violent act than there were people concerned with the fact that there were two people hitting and punching and hurting each other. 

This is when I asked myself why was it that we were usually so drawn to fights. After doing some research, I came up with a few ideas.

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It challenges the strict, civilized rules that we are used to

 

We live in a world where it is clear to us that there are certain rules of etiquette. For most of us, this is a world so synthesized, controlled, and organized, that it is rare to see anything distinctly out of the ordinary. Deep inside, our minds ponder back to a time much less organized, longing for a break out of the order and rules that seem to make up every aspect of our lives.

Some of us long for adrenaline, our minds are wishing to see something that proves that the rules can be broken, and that sometimes, we go back to our old, almost primitive ways. Fights may be a source of adrenaline and strange desire for some. Fights may be a sign that things are not always the way society wants them to be, and that every once in a while, these expectations may change. They might send us an unconscious message that deep inside our civilized an proper manners can easily be changed.

Our genetics

Recent studies prove that our genetics play a role towards how much we are drawn to violent acts, just like they affect how violent we are. Chemical imbalances, as well as different genes affecting the function of the amygdala and pre-frontal cortex, which process emotions and fear, can make us more or less violent. In addition, an increased level of certain neurotransmitters can also make us be more drawn to violent acts and violence in general. 

This is not to say that everyone who stands by and watches a school fight has a mental disorder or lacks a neural connection. However, genetics can explain why some people have strange obsessions with fights and violence while some people find them repugnant and scary. 

Further speaking, evolutionary psychology explains that the attraction  to violence and fights also comes from a revolutionary adaptation designed for survival. A long time ago, we might have used it as a necessary response for survival. 

The idea of good v. evil

Another frequently used explanation for human attraction to violence is the unconscious idea that fights show a struggle between good and evil. Fights might be seen as a defense against evil. All throughout history, we have seen that when people feel victimized or when they find a person (or group of people) with ideas that we find wrong, we tend to resort to violence. Deep inside, we may see school fights, or any form of mutual violence, as a fight between the good and the evil happening right before our eyes. We want to see a clear winner, we want to have proof that good triumphs over evil. We may even see fights as justice (or maybe injustice), happening right before our eyes. 

Maturity

The last explanation I found was maturity. When we are teenagers, our brain is still developing. Our pre-frontal and our frontal cortex and our amygdala, which are responsible for emotions, decision making, and social interactions, are still developing. Furthermore, a lot of adolescents still do not have the capabilities to understand the impact and long-run effects of violence. It may be seen by some of us as more of a joke, something that will not have any effect on our classmates and our school in the long run. This is not to say that all teenagers can't think and understand violence. However, some of us may not have a fully developed capacity to understand the full problem with what is happening, while others may simply understand it but like to watch it anyways because of another reason. 

The conclusion

What I found was that most of the time, people do not enjoy watching fights simply because of a sadistic desire to see people getting hurt. Instead, things are so much more complex. Fights may give us unconscious feelings of justice, as well as give a subliminal message of breaking free of society's rules. Liking fights may also be linked to genetics and a primitive survival instinct. For some of us it may just be maturity and brain development. In any case, I feel like sometimes we are so overexposed to, yet so protected against these types of things, that we make fights be an even bigger deal than it already is. Maybe if we didn't see fights as such a bid deal, or as a way to show justice or rebel against society, but instead as an act of violence that can hurt someone, or even kill them, fights could become less common and problematic. 

If you are interested in the psychology of fighters themselves, that is something you can find here.

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