People who harm others escalate the severity of harm they inflict

Evidence

Similarly, harming others increases the degree of harm people subsequently inflict on others. When “teachers” shock “learners” who make mistakes on a task, teachers who set their own shock levels increase the intensity of shock over trials (Buss, 1966; Goldstein, Davis, & Herman, 1975). This is the case even with control for the learner’s error rate (Goldstein et al., 1975). — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 127

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: People derogate their victims to justify having harmed them. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3962; Committing early harm spirals perpetrators into escalating violence via rationalization. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1607; Gradual escalation binds perpetrators to destructive roles they would reject in one step — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 659 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Committing early harm spirals perpetrators into escalating violence via rationalization. #expands (0.92) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1607
• Gradual escalation binds perpetrators to destructive roles they would reject in one step #expands (0.85) — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 659
• People derogate their victims to justify having harmed them. #expands (0.80) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3962