Compulsive nature possible reason why one indulges in self-destructive acts: Study

A person’s compulsive nature could be the reason why such individuals indulge in self-destructive behaviours, making harmful choices despite knowing the obvious negative outcomes, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications Psychology, also found that making compulsive decisions did not appear to be random mistakes or people having “bad days".

“They’re stable traits — almost like personality types. This is not to say they’re fixed, just that they may require (an) intervention to break," said lead researcher Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel, a behavioural neuroscientist and experimental psychologist at The University of New South Wales.

Researchers said self-sabotaging choices do not arise out of a lack of motivation or capacity —rather from a subtle, yet persistent failure to connect their actions with consequences.

The team observed three distinct behaviours among Australian participants whose choices in an online game resulted in either a reward or punishment — ‘Sensitives’, ‘Unawares’ and ‘Compulsives’.

The ‘Sensitives’ were those who worked out which choices led to unfavourable outcomes and adapted their behaviour. The ‘Unawares’ were those who did not work out, yet were able to modify their strategies once their errors were brought to their attention.

The third group — ‘Compulsives’ — “persisted in harmful decisions despite both punishment and informational intervention", the authors explained in the study.

“We basically told them, ‘this action leads to that negative consequence, and this other one is safe’. Most people who had been making poor choices changed their behaviour immediately. But some didn’t," said Jean-Richard Dit Bressel.

Playing the online game required the participants to click on either of two planets — one would lead to a spaceship that delivered points (reward), while the other to a spaceship that stole from the points accrued thus far (punishment).

After a few rounds of trial and error, the researchers found that the sensitive participants were able to work out which planet led to punishment, but the ‘Unawares’ and ‘Compulsives’ failed to make the connection and therefore, were “punished intermittently".

In another group of participants — a more diverse, international pool of 267 people from 24 different countries with different backgrounds and a wider age range — the researchers found similar results.

Further, when this diverse group played the same game six months later, most were seen to display the same behaviours.

“That was one of the more striking findings. It suggests these aren’t just random mistakes or bad days. They’re stable traits — almost like personality types. This is not to say they’re fixed, just that they may require intervention to break," Jean-Richard Dit Bressel said.

The patterns seen in the study — “where people ignore both experience and information" — are similar to those noted in gambling and other compulsive behaviours, the lead researcher said.

The team also said the research has important implications for public health messaging, as campaigns largely rely on providing information — about smoking, drinking, diet, or financial risks — assuming that people will act on it.

“We’ve shown that standard information campaigns work for most people — but not for everyone. For compulsive individuals, we may need a different kind of intervention," Jean-Richard Dit Bressel said.

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