The Imp Of The Perverse Is A Real Thing And You've Definitely Experienced ItSkip To ContentHomepageSign InSearch BuzzFeedSearch BuzzFeedlol Badge Feedwin Badge Feedtrending Badge FeedCalifornia residents can opt out of "sales" of personal data.Do Not Sell My Personal Information 2022 BuzzFeed, Inc PressRSSPrivacyConsent PreferencesUser TermsAd ChoicesHelpContactSitemapPosted on 3 Sept 2019 The Imp Of The Perverse Is A Real Thing And You ve Definitely Experienced It Why, brain, WHY?by by Sam ClealBuzzFeed Staff, by Ben ArmsonBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestTwitterMailLink Have you ever felt the urge to trip up a stranger for absolutely no reason Sturti / Via Getty Images How about the urge to shout something absurd or offensive in a formal assembly Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF CBBC / Via Giphy According to American writer and OG spooky boy Edgar Allan Poe you have an imp in your brain pushing you to do irrational things Arthur Rackham / Via commons.wikimedia.org Like knocking food out of someone s hands Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Comedy Central / Via Giphy Or throwing a cup of hot tea in somebody s face Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF NBC / Via Giphy Chucking your phone away Ethan Nestor @CrankGameplays Why is it that whenever a car window is open I always have a powerful urge to throw my phone out of it 07:26 PM - 11 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite Flipping a table Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF WWE / Via Giphy Aggressively sweeping a desk Lorna @lornaaaa_xo The amount of times a day I get the urge to sweep all my papers and files off my desk dramatically, is, in fact, a lot. 09:39 AM - 10 Jul 2019 Reply Retweet Favorite Punching an old lady in the face Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Marvel / Via Giphy Just all terrible things you shouldn t ever EVER do Poe compared these perverse thoughts to a shadow that seems to flit across the brain in his short story The Imp of the Perverse The Short Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe: An Annotated Edition / Via books.google.co.uk, University of Illinois Press / Via books.google.co.uk No one really knows why we think these things but theories range from the need for your brain to declutter itself to the brain improving its problem-solving skills by rehearsing future crisis situations to see how you d react Thanks brain Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Rede Globo de Televisão / Via Giphy The important thing is that we DON T do these crazy things that pop into our minds for all of a millisecond and that it s perfectly normal to have these sudden unacceptable urges Phew So next time you want to push over a child in the street thank the imp for its contribution and move away from the small child Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Strong Heart/Demme Production Share This ArticleFacebook PinterestTwitterMailLink BuzzFeed DailyKeep up with the latest daily buzz with the BuzzFeed Daily newsletter!This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.