Do Humans Crave Violence? Motivations for Enjoyment of and Engagement in Violent Media

An interesting human phenomenon is that of morbid curiosity, when humans frequently seek out information about highly shocking negative information, such as accidents, murder, and other facets of violence. This brings into question the motivations behind viewing aversive and violent stimuli, and whether this common phenomenon is rooted in an innate craving for violence that exists in every person. The goal of this paper is to explore whether humans have developed an innate craving for violence through evolutionary perspectives, and address how these cravings may manifest in people through the enjoyment of witnessing violence in media. The development of cruelty through predatory, hunting and social adaptations shows that there may be neurobiological factors as to why humans are intrigued and aroused by violence. Humans may have learned to associate images of pain, blood and violence with satiation of hunger and pursuit of prey, resulting in emotional excitation and stimulation for those who view them. However, while an innate craving of violence may be commonly found in humans, there are individual differences in the enjoyment of violent movies and disturbing media. Emotional processing of the experience of viewing violent stimuli, as well as baseline neurological activity for traits of sensation seeking and aggression leads to different emotional processing of and motivation behind watching violent media