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- 🤪 Being ‘silly’ has huge mental health benefits
🤪 Being ‘silly’ has huge mental health benefits
Plus: Study finds some people genuinely enjoy causing harm
Daniel Hoadley
March 12, 2025
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Welcome to Cognitive Crumbs
Twice a week, we break down the freshest psychology research in under 5 minutes.
Here’s what’s on the menu today:
🤪 Being ‘silly’ has huge mental health benefits
😲 Study finds some people genuinely enjoy causing harm
👶 Babies understand a lot more than you think
Being ‘silly’ has huge mental health benefits 🤪
A recent study confirms what grandparents and fun uncles have known for years: being playful as an adult has real benefits. Play boosts creativity, strengthens social bonds, and improves mental health.
Psychologist Steve Tuber’s research highlights how playful interactions, especially across generations, enhance well-being. Whether it’s a goofy game with grandkids or an impromptu dance-off with friends, these moments inject joy and resilience into daily life.
So, if you needed an excuse to be silly, science has your back. Play more, stress less, and maybe even add “professional fun-haver” to your résumé.
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Study finds some people genuinely enjoy causing harm 😲
A new study published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry found that some people genuinely enjoy causing harm, and that pleasure is strongly linked to psychopathic traits, particularly coldheartedness.
While sadism isn’t just for movie villains, the study highlights that everyday forms, like enjoying violent media or online cruelty, are more common than we might think.
Researchers tested 120 participants using tasks designed to measure sadistic pleasure, such as “grinding” bugs (don’t worry, the bugs were fine) and blasting noise at others. Those high in coldheartedness reported the most enjoyment but didn’t always act on it. This suggests that while some people take pleasure in cruelty, their behavior likely depends on context.
The findings reinforce that sadistic tendencies exist on a spectrum. But before you start side-eyeing your competitive friend, remember that enjoying dark humor isn’t the same as actual sadism. Future research will explore other personality traits and environmental influences that might shape these behaviors.
Babies understand a lot more than you think 👶
A new study suggests that infants as young as 10 months can mentally combine objects and actions, proving they’re not just tiny chaos machines but budding problem solvers.
By 12 months, they’re matching facial expressions to objects (like knowing that mom’s “not impressed” face means don’t touch), and by 14 months, they’re stringing together simple phrases.
This flips the script on the idea that complex thinking comes from language and it might, in fact, be the other way around.
Basically, babies have been figuring things out long before they can tell us about it.
They’re secretly watching and judging us 👀
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Dan from Cognitive Crumbs