Science & Technology

The Surprising Psychology Behind Your Urge to Break the Rules | Paul Bloom | TED

We all experience it: that desire to do something wrong just for the sake of it. Whether it’s walking on manicured grass or sticking your finger in a friend’s ice cream, psychologist Paul Bloom invites us to see the clever, creative and beautiful side of these minor impulses to do bad. He dives into the…

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We all experience it: that desire to do something wrong just for the sake of it. Whether it’s walking on manicured grass or sticking your finger in a friend’s ice cream, psychologist Paul Bloom invites us to see the clever, creative and beautiful side of these minor impulses to do bad. He dives into the psychology behind this all-too-human condition — and proposes that it helps make our world a little more unpredictable and fun.

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34 Comments

  1. Lívia Santos

    March 20, 2023 at 8:04 am

    Taylor Swift already knew that when she said “they say I did something bad, then why’s it feel so good?”

  2. Mohamed Adam

    March 20, 2023 at 8:06 am

    This guy is my man😊😊❤

  3. Marcus Eli Ravage

    March 20, 2023 at 8:27 am

    Perversity is our strength.

  4. soberhippie

    March 20, 2023 at 8:50 am

    Once, when we were children, a friend of mine bought a cone of ice cream. I made the arm movement that, if unchecked, would have knocked the ice cream out if his hand, but my intent was just to threaten, to cause a bit of anxiety, so i stopped my hand centimetres away from the actual cone. However, my friend automatically squeezed the cone so hard, that the ice cream slipped out of it. It was quite funny

  5. Patrick Goldsmith

    March 20, 2023 at 8:50 am

    Is this how/why the GQP attracts folks to vote against their own self-interest? Or the Gov. of Florida can display rabid misanthropy?

  6. Interferenzbrille _

    March 20, 2023 at 8:59 am

    “Telling people: ‘What you do is stupid, irrational, immoral’ can have the paradoxical effect of motivating them to do exactly what you don’t want them to do.”

    • oceandizzle7

      March 20, 2023 at 6:14 pm

      If only the government/state got that memo on certain topics. 😂😂💁‍♀️

  7. LulaLeeful

    March 20, 2023 at 9:13 am

    I may find this compelling if sources referenced were representative of populations current and past.

  8. Fu'n Videos

    March 20, 2023 at 9:38 am

    Entertaining. I stayed focused on this one.

  9. Scottius Nevious

    March 20, 2023 at 10:09 am

    I only get this urge when i know i can piss off the person who pissed me off.

  10. Sol

    March 20, 2023 at 10:18 am

    Paul Bloom, a good speaker and teacher. I always find what he talks about interesting. I used to watch his university lessons on YouTube

    • HaltonHannom

      March 21, 2023 at 3:29 am

      I’m currently in his Intro Psych class at U of T. His lectures are interesting, he keeps the students engaged and has a good sense of humour.

  11. Andy Cordy

    March 20, 2023 at 10:48 am

    I certainly agree that perversity can be creative, and had I the power I would not eradicate it, however when we see phenomenon like the alt-right, Q-anon and the epidemic of deliberate spreading of mistrust in science, I get concerned.

  12. Clementine

    March 20, 2023 at 10:59 am

    Very interesting stuff.

  13. Teddy Dotson

    March 20, 2023 at 11:03 am

    I want it to be so hot outside that everyone is upset about the weather. I dislike the rain, cold weather is too wet.

    • Teddy Dotson

      March 20, 2023 at 11:04 am

      I would like a second sun…

  14. Libertiner

    March 20, 2023 at 11:35 am

    he is not a fucking comedian, but people laugh if they is attending a standup show……wierd

  15. Mark Dowse

    March 20, 2023 at 1:34 pm

    I like to think.
    I also want to watch the world GROW. More green is better than less green.

    M 🦘🏏😎

  16. Home Wall

    March 20, 2023 at 2:13 pm

    Rules are meant to be broken. If they were not, then the rule wouldn’t exist.

  17. george h

    March 20, 2023 at 2:37 pm

    Being told not to tell people what to do because they’ll do the opposite makes me want to do the opposite of what you told me to do.

  18. edi

    March 20, 2023 at 6:58 pm

    Really an interesting talk. As an Austrian, I really got a thing for malicious compliance… There’s no bigger joy for me than to show people how stupid certain laws or orders are and bonus points if someone can be coaxed into a discussion or making a decision, where he only has bad options unless he accepts that his values are stupid… (like that one legend who pretended to be a tr@ns woman with giant br3asts and deliberately became an embarrassment so that he got paid to do nothing!)
    I got quite an inhibition in destroying beautiful things, rare things, or very old things, but as a kid, I did engage in vandalism, but that was targeting things that already offended me in my anarchistic sense of beauty… Besides the malicious compliance, the one thing that I need to watch out for is the joy of manipulating others and corrupting them in petty ways. The most harmless example is to get someone to laugh at a politically incorrect joke, but it can take a dark turn pretty fast…
    Thus, thinking about it, it’s mostly a reactionary desire to fight back against a culture I cannot identify myself with, especially when it feels oppressive or stupid. Moreover, showcasing hypocrisy is clearly a big part of the joy, besides breaking the taboo by proxy…

  19. This isn't allowed

    March 20, 2023 at 7:03 pm

    I think this is important because everytime someone does something bad, people always excuse them “oh it’s because they were abused as a child” or “hurt people hurt people”. I don’t think this is entirely false either, but saying that no one is perverted or enjoy hurting others is just a lie and distorsion of reality.

  20. John L

    March 20, 2023 at 9:55 pm

    Weird I use this chaos scale to do good instead of evil, example when someone tells me I would never pass the test I would study twice as hard just to prove them wrong.

    • Jakub Anderwald

      March 21, 2023 at 2:36 am

      In dungeons and dragons RPG game that’s two different scales. Order/chaos and good/evil. In that system you would be called as chaotic-good 🙂

  21. Phố Nguyễn Từ Hợp

    March 20, 2023 at 9:55 pm

    When I was young, my mother alway ban me don’t do thing this, or don’t do thing that. Finally, I often do it in the dark. It thing made me funy and happy. Nowaday, when I am a mother, I don’t ban my son. Due to I know, everything I must not him, he will do when don’t have me there. The lesson first I learn this video, in my mind alway two part, angle and devil. The devil will appear if we refuse it. The lesson second, If I reply violent, violent will attack, If i accep it, it will go away.

  22. Differences

    March 21, 2023 at 12:04 am

    “I am the girl who spends hours huddled in a corner of a library, trying to find what you love the most about Marlowe, just so I can write you a poem worthy of Shakespeare. I’ve made books my lovers, hours my enemies and you the only story.”

  23. Differences

    March 21, 2023 at 12:04 am

    Just follow me for education purpose

  24. Samson Fernendez

    March 21, 2023 at 1:53 am

    People who eat animals: “we just want to watch the world burn”

  25. M W

    March 21, 2023 at 4:39 am

    The people reaction is the main culprit that urge others to do the stupid things they do. Stupid Youtube and Tiktok videos are the best examples why these urges are increasing.

  26. Rashmi Dhakal

    March 21, 2023 at 7:59 am

  27. Jackson Carson

    March 21, 2023 at 11:24 am

    Snap! He didn’t follow through on the perversion scale thing. Was that a perverse act in itself? 🤔

  28. Happy Snappy Chappy

    March 21, 2023 at 5:45 pm

    with the Diplomatic situation – if your adversary says “you sanction me – I will terrorise you” then you say “See? I KNEW he was a baddie!!! Let’s hit him before he gets a chance.

  29. Sylar

    March 21, 2023 at 6:19 pm

    Thanks Paul, just gave me a little more motivation to continue writing my choas inspired book about either helping others or watching the world burn.

    Great talk, recently listened to Paul Bloom and Sam Harris on a podcast about empathy too. Was very interesting

  30. Greyskull McBeef

    March 22, 2023 at 4:05 pm

    “Dont bully people” somehow sounds like a loss of freedom to many people

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