The Pleasure Paradox

“Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.” —Benjamin Franklin

Pleasure is not just confined to the self but also includes a regard for the pleasure of others. How do we seek pleasure for the self and pleasure for others when these two agendas invariably clash? The concept of pleasure appears to have much to teach us about human behaviour.

Immanuel Kant, over a hundred years ago, suggested that pleasure was a “feeling” because it is subjective and cannot be interpreted as belonging to an (external) object. Thus, Kant seems to propose that pleasures are sensations, just especially subjective ones.

Many of the anomalies of human behaviour are driven by what can be thought of as negative pleasure. Negative pleasures are behaviours that on the surface seem to be repulsive but still entice and attract us under just the right circumstances.

The “pleasure paradox” is all about the contradictions within pleasure. Impulse control disorders, in particular, seem to be connected to a perceived sensation of negative pleasure and offer some explanation for anti-social behaviours such as kleptomania, pyromania, and explosive disorders like road rage.

“Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath.” —Thomas Jefferson

Understanding Negative Pleasure

Negative pleasure occurs when we find pleasure in something that is usually not pleasurable. Finding pleasure in reading a gruesomely frightening Stephen King novel is an example of such an activity, which provides terror and fearful excitement within the relative safety and detachment of reading. Horror supplies the reader with a negative pleasure experience due to the tiger being metaphorically “in the cage” and not in the room. Another example of the attraction to terror can be seen when small children cover their faces with their hands during a horror movie only to spread their fingers just in time to see the worst of it.

By altering one’s emotions and motivation to experience negative pleasure, we raise the potential to change actions usually perceived as unpleasant into actions that are experienced as pleasurable. The joy derived from spectator sports that involve violence (such as boxing, rugby, and ice hockey), or which may end in injury (like auto racing, bullfighting, and aerobatic flying), all support the magnetism of negative pleasure.

The repetitive motives of the hardened criminal to fantasize, prepare, plan, hide, be caught, escape, inflict distress, and taunt also validate the reality of negative pleasure. Michael Apter postulates that the quest for excitement is a powerful motive for human behaviour, including antisocial behaviour.

Parapathic Emotions

The paradox of emotions may be better understood by explaining parapathic emotions. Parapathic emotions are thought to be experienced in a protective frame, or bubble, of detachment. The observer feels protected in the safety of their detachment from danger ("Someone else may be at risk but I am safe.").

This could explain why even the most empathic person can still slow down at a highway accident and try to see what mayhem may be occurring at a safe distance from that mayhem. The unpleasant nature of the accident may still provide some level of pleasure to the detached observer via these parapathic emotions.

Schadenfreude

“It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure.” —Marquis de Sade

The German term schadenfreude refers to one’s internal enjoyment or pleasure derived from the trouble of another. Here we see firsthand that our pleasure and the pleasure of others are contraindicated. If I'm feeling schadenfreude, my pleasure is your pain.

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Schadenfreude includes things like the humour derived from another person slipping and falling on the ice, enjoying the pain and suffering of an unkind person being bullied, or the pleasure of inflicting any number of insulting and painful verbal expletives onto others. The perpetrator of schadenfreude may not always be aware of their motivation or the social implications of their behaviour due to well-practised internal masking devices.

Altruism

On a positive note, altruism represents a selfless concern for the welfare of others. Pleasure is experienced through demonstrating a giving nature and promoting positive attitudes toward social interaction. My gain is your pleasure and your gain is my pleasure.

There is an acceptance of differences and an enhancement of positivity. The humanitarian and charitable giving of one’s resources to others for their gain is the ultimate example of positive pleasure. The paradox of pleasure is that positive and negative perspectives of pleasure are an undeniable and existential given.