This reply is a bit off topic for this thread, but you have raised an important point.
No resistance from me Nine Lives, I think you have gone to the heart of the attitudinal position we all need to examine.
As somebody once said, "We don't have attitudes, they have us!"
Addicted to such responses? or simply a thoughtless conditioned reflex? Many people are incapable of thinking for themselves, and this is where the ínner beast', as you call it takes control.
The thing to ask is who is in charge here? me, or my habitual attitudes?
Just referring to addiction in this context, it is often not until an addict comes to terms with supressed hurt, anger, rage or shame that they can begin to be free of whatever addictive medium has been used to keep the lid on.
