Destruction - Mind Field (Ep 3)

[Music] We live in a universe where statistically disorder is king. As time moves forward, things fall apart, stars burn out, energy spreads out, entropy conquers all. But humans, life fights that trend. We build things, we organize things, we add information. So why is it that we love destroying things? Exploding fireworks, fights, and crashes; even popping bubble wrap. Tiny cute things can make us want to just squeeze them to death. Why?

[Music] The power to destroy is a delicious one. Even just holding this here, knowing I can drop it, I am in control. I can exert my will in a dramatic and irreversible way. Ready? Ready! [Music] Beautiful! Why does that feel so good to do? Or even just watch? For me, throwing it to its death was almost relaxing. Like I feel calmer now after being destructive. Like I vented some pent-up energy or anger. Why do we like breaking things when we're angry?

There is a growing trend of businesses called anger rooms that are popping up in places like Texas and Toronto. People pay to visit these anger rooms and let off steam by smashing mock-ups of workplaces, kitchens, and more. Catharsis theory proposes that such acts of destruction reduce our anger. But do they? Sometimes. But sometimes they don't. This is what makes studying the mind so difficult. Researchers are still looking into these specifics and the variables involved. And I want to see firsthand and in person what it's like when people get angry and then break things. Will they be more or less violent afterward?

[Music] To demonstrate catharsis theory, we set up our own anger room to see whether or not breaking things will help calm down some angry people. Our subjects think they're participating in a study about opposing political views. So we've asked them to write an essay on different polarizing topics.

"Hashana hi, how are you? I'm Michael, it's nice to meet you. How is just with your co-participant Clint? He's in another room. I'm gonna give your essay to Clint, and he's gonna critique it, and you're going to critique his, okay?" Each of our subjects has been paired with a man named Clint, and they will be critiquing each other's essays.

"Police officers have a very difficult job. They had to protect us mainly from people of color."

"The thing is, okay here we go. I'm actually Clint. Overblown an American, get over it. My job, or rather a Clint's job, is to make our subjects mad so they can test our anger room. You should be ashamed; you deserve what Pauncey... what an [ __ ] change the black. That's better, okay go Shauna."

"I'm back, and you were with Clint. Okay, now let's go through what he wrote just quickly. He wrote... did I put that that way? No, you didn't. Did you turn it around? I did turn it around! He seems like a bigot or somebody. Want to keep looking at me? He's responded to your essay there, thank you. We can't tell people where to go to eat for lunch or what car to drive. Like that just really irritates me."

"This is a person that is making arguments that are not based in any fact. He's clearly someone who thinks that the people who are on social programs are lazy. Okay, that's a ridiculous argument. Disgusting! Oh, I hope I don't see him in the hallway. He's a dick. And that is why he is part of the reason why our country sucks right now, because he's stupid."

"Well, I think that was pretty effective! We've got a lot of angry people on our hands. So will demolishing things calm them down, or will acts of destruction throw fuel on the fire? Let's explore catharsis theory with an expert."

"The modern view of catharsis is that by acting out we release, sort of like a pressure valve, and that releases that energy in order for us to sort of build up again and handle everyday distress. People who are angry and aggressive who then act that out, what would they feel afterward? What many studies have found is that it's a short-lived release. And it feels good! It feels really good to release. But what happens in the brain is the brain enjoys that. But there's really a reward to build up that pressure again and then release it again. It's a temporary fix. And as far as we know, I didn't realize it was so complicated and still being researched. I thought it was black and white; it was you do this and you release the emotion and it's gone."

"Yeah, not as much. We don't have this perfect definition of catharsis where everybody agrees. Here's how it works, here's how it ends up."

"Well, let's see if catharsis works for us! Now that Clint has sufficiently angered all of our subjects, he is more like a [ __ ]. As far as I'm concerned, it's time to put catharsis theory to the test!"

"Some subjects will be allowed to actively take out their anger on all these beautiful art objects. You have completely free rein to break anything in this room. Okay, other subjects are instructed to sit in the room passively. I want you to reflect on the essay, the arguments, the critiques, and also on the objects in this room. And maybe Annie, Clint. No, you are not; that's not part of this study!

"Okay, will these subjects feel less angry after their violent acts of destruction? Only one way to find out!" [Music]

"When we are angry, the body's adrenal glands release cortisol and adrenaline, ready in the body and mind for fight mode. But catharsis theory hypothesizes that letting it out relieves feelings of aggression. Well, will these subjects feel less angry after their violent acts of destruction? Before we move on to the final step of our anger room demonstration, maybe we can gain insight from someone who makes a living by hitting—not objects, but other people.

"Mark Smith, aka Rhino, is a champion bodybuilder, boxer, and UK gladiator who knows a thing or two about how to destroy an opponent."

"So when you're going into a fight, you know that you're going to get hurt. Yes. You know that you're gonna hurt someone else. How do you psych yourself up to be good at that?"

"Well, you're going into a fight; you want to stick to your game plan, stay focused and be relaxed."

"Relaxed? I would have thought you'd want to go in angry."

"No, because if you go in too angry, all you're doing is... and you're not thinking straight. Back, and it turns into like a school brawl. So it's a very tactical game, right?"

"Yeah, a tiger like Rocky! But this is fascinating to me, because you would think that to physically outfight someone, yes, in nature, we would have evolved to run off of anger and fear. That's like... two lions? I agree! View their two lions attack and go full out, done. There's no pace in that fight whatsoever, like animals, but you have to know when to be an animal and at what point in the fight."

"Okay, so it's no Prince."

"I'm a very jumpy country person; it's now in Wenzhou called the trigger."

"If you ever find yourself angry in your real life, do you find it helpful to punch a punching bag?"

"Definitely! Yeah, I will get angry. Like, I'm on the phone with my bank, and I might think, slamming a door or just hanging up and throwing my phone on the bed."

"No legs or your phone, and don't slam doors."

"Why?"

"Come and exercise and hit the bag. You'll feel so much better!"

"What's the difference though? They're both like—"

"Well, the thing is you're not doing something spontaneous and acting on impulse. It's premeditated. You know you're gonna go, okay, I'm gonna pack my bag, and I'm gonna go to the gym. You're releasing endorphins, you'll feel more relaxed and you'll be able to assess the bank manager who's been irritating you for the last hour."

"Can I try hitting some things?"

"Definitely! You can try it on me!"

"Can I really?"

"Yes! Are you gonna hit back?"

"I'll let you know; I'm there! Don't look scary!"

"Is Rhino correct that violent acts of rage won't calm you down, but the controlled aggression used in boxing will actually relax you? I guess I'm about to find out!"

"I came out of the fight having learned two things: one, I'm a wimp; and two, Rhino is right. When physical violence is channeled in an organized sport like boxing, it can actually reduce feelings of aggression!"

"I have this weird combination of feelings: as tired as I am, yeah, I'm very amped up and I beat it. Yeah, I don't feel aggressive, I would say I'm relaxed here. I would just say I'm clearer here, and I feel more in control. I had a tiger rock! Yeah, well maybe it's the eye of the man!"

"That was great!" [Music]

"It's time for the final part of our anger room demonstration. All of our subjects will be taking part in what they think is a reflex test against their opponent Clint. In reality, of course, there is no Clint, and what we're really looking at is the catharsis fury. Have our subjects' levels of anger been affected according to whether they committed violent acts of destruction or not?"

"Stage 3 is going to be testing how your reflexes are working at this very moment. Okay, so this right here is a static electricity generator that is going to provide a little bit of a shock."

"We're putting one on Clint as well, and he's in another room. But you both have the same setup. Once our subjects are fitted with the shock bracelet, they're introduced to the Tesla's control panel. Yeah, it's very simplified, but that really helps keep the variables low! So both you and Clint will be competing in a bit of a game. The yellow light is going to come on at some point, and as soon as you see it come on, hit that orange button. If you hit this button before Clint does, you'll see the green light come on, and that'll mean that you won, and Clint needs to receive a small shock!

"Okay, and you can set this to a level of your choosing. So, okay, light goes on, if I hit this, the green one comes, and then I'm allowed to work at this contraption?"

"Correct, which controls how high the voltage and for how long the voltage."

"Okay, if however Clint pushes the button before you do, the red light will come on, indicating light, and I'm about to get it."

"That you'll get a shot?"

"Yeah, correct!"

"We'll get a sense of our subjects' level of anger by how they respond to the chance to administer pain to Clint. Remember, this subject just sat in the anger room passively."

"Did I get it? Oh, all right, the green light means our subject wins! How hard will he shock Clint?"

"I'm gonna give you a little low one, buddy. There you go, just a kiss!"

"Got me!"

"The red light means Clint won! How will our subject respond to getting shocked? Not only does this subject not seem angry, he's actually enjoying the game!"

"All right, about that! I'm not gonna harm you, man! Yellow one?"

"He actually seems relatively calm. Will our other passive subject follow suit? Clint gave her a painful shock; let's see how strongly she retaliates."

"Even after getting a shock from Clint, this subject is still hesitant to give him a shock in return."

"Okay, Clint, Andrea. Okay, it's just a reminder that you are allowed to change that dial to what you think would be appropriate."

"Yeah, I just don't want to like hurt him or anything. I'm just gonna keep it low."

"So the angry subjects who sat passively seem to have calmed down. Now it's time to check on the subjects who acted violently in the anger room. Did letting out all of that aggression relieve their anger?"

"The experiment will begin now!" [Music]

"Take it, take it, take it, Kahshanna! That's the best!"

"What level is your dial? [Music] He crepe that all the way up and he's laying on that button! This subject was one of the most aggressive people in the anger room, but that doesn't seem to have calmed him down." [Music]

"Among our subjects, it seems that those who physically vented their anger are still pretty angry compared to the subjects who sat quietly. So at least in this case, catharsis therapy was not effective. In fact, in some cases, the subject seems even angrier!"

"You know that's too hard, you dick! Why don't you come in here and talk to me in person?"

"Oh my god! Oh my god! We're all familiar with the concept of rubbernecking; it's hard to look away from a car crash. Oh my god! Oh, but why? There are surely a myriad of reasons, but one may be that at a primitive level, witnessing danger allows us to learn and prepare for it. Activities where danger and destruction are likely are exciting."

"Starting in our childhood, physical aggression is encouraged, even in games. Take a piñata, for example; as a special birthday treat, we are told to beat up an effigy with a baseball bat, and when we hit it hard enough, we are rewarded with candy."

"What parts of a child's urge to destroy are innate versus learned? Well, there was a groundbreaking experiment that shed light on this. In 1961, Albert Bandura conducted a famous and controversial study called the Bobo doll experiment. He had adults act violently to an inflatable clown doll in the presence of children, then left the children alone with the same doll to see if they would mimic the destructive behavior they'd observed. Disturbingly, the children did indeed copy the adults and lashed out at the doll, often getting very creative with their aggression and destruction."

"Aggression comes in many unexpected forms. Why is it so hard to resist popping bubbles in bubble wrap, for instance? Do we like the sound, the destruction, or both? It's like we're naturally drawn to destroying these harmless plastic bubbles of air. Destructive tendencies seem to be so ingrained in us that we even respond to positive stimulation with urges to destroy."

"One of the strangest things about destruction is how people want to hug things to death, especially things that are extremely cute, like a puppy. We don't know exactly why this is, but there is a study that demonstrates the effect by using bubble wrap. Our desire to pop these bubbles can sweeten adorable stimuli and incite aggressive behavior."

"We're about to find out! Thank you for participating in our focus. That's different. Please make yourself comfortable. We've recruited subjects who think they're taking part in a motor skills test."

"Are you familiar with this product? Yes. Have you popped the bubbles in bubble wrap before? Yes."

"But really, what we're testing is their aggressive response to cute stimuli. So you will be viewing a montage of images. These pop bubbles in the bubble wrap. You may pop as many or as few as you like; just be sure to start when images begin and stop when the images end."

"Popping bubbles is like squeezing a stress ball; it's a great way to express aggression. The question is, will the subjects pop more bubbles when watching neutral images or cute ones?"

"First, we showed our subjects these basic landscapes, which are not designed to elicit an emotional response." [Music]

"And we tallied the total number of bubbles popped."

"All right, we're gonna do part 2, where you'll be viewing another set of images."

"We also showed them images of puppies. Don't you just wanna hug them and squeeze them?"

"Just, okay, look, you get the point. To keep things even, half of the subjects viewed the landscapes first, and half viewed the puppies first."

"But I did wait; they seemed to pop a lot more bubbles while watching the puppies, except for this guy."

"So-called cute aggression is a universal psychological phenomenon. Researchers believe the brain's response to both cuteness and aggression results in the release of dopamine, implicated in reward and pleasure. If we are unable to physically touch cute stimuli, the desire to do so can be regulated by substituting aggressive physical behavior."

"Will our results reflect this theorem?" [Music]

"Lay it out. How did you feel about the images that you saw?"

"Oh, cool!"

"How did you feel about the puppies?"

"I love them! They were very tiny and adorable, and I wanted to hug them!"

"And how did you feel about popping the ball?"

"I felt like I wanted to play with the dogs or I wanted to play with a bubble wrap with the dogs!"

"In our simple test, our subjects popped an average of 33 percent more bubbles while watching cute puppies as opposed to boring landscapes."

"So was the bubble wrap a stand-in for the puppies?"

"I guess so! In fact, the majority of our subjects popped more bubbles while watching puppies, but not this guy."

"Remember him? So how did you feel about seeing the dog pictures?"

"I've always been more of a cat person."

"It seems sometimes cuteness is a matter of perspective!" [Laughter]

"Our relationship with destruction is not a simple one. It can release endorphins and relax our minds. It can amp us up and make us even more aggressive. It can even help us regulate our emotional reactions to cute things. Destruction can be useful, it can be dangerous, and it can be a lot of fun. And as always, thanks for watching!" [Music] [Music]