Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T21:26:17.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Revenge, even though it is not your fault

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2012

Rongjun Yu
Rongjun Yu*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China. rongjun.yu@gmail.comwww.rongjunyu.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

McCullough et al. argue that revenge has a future-oriented function, that is, to deter future harms by changing other individuals' incentives toward the self. Recent research has shown that people seek revenge even when harms are unintentional. This commentary reports these results and proposes that revenge may also serve to reduce the immediate psychological pain resulting from unfair treatment.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 40 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

DeWall, C. N., Baumeister, R. F., Stillman, T. F. & Gailliot, M. T. (2007) Violence restrained: Effects of self-regulation and its depletion on aggression. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43:62–76.Google Scholar
DeWall, C. N., Pond, R. S. Jr. & Bushman, B. J. (2010) Sweet revenge: Diabetic symptoms predict less forgiveness. Personality and Individual Differences 49:823–26.Google Scholar
Dreber, A., Rand, D. G., Fudenberg, D. & Nowak, M. A. (2008) Winners don't punish. Nature 452(7185):348–51.Google Scholar
Mobbs, D., Yu, R., Meyer, M., Passamonti, L., Seymour, B., Calder, A. J., Schweizer, S., Frith, C. D. & Dalgleish, T. (2009) A key role for similarity in vicarious reward. Science 324(5929):900.Google Scholar
Scott, S. K., Young, A. W., Calder, A. J., Hellawell, D. J., Aggleton, J. P. & Johnson, M. (1997) Impaired auditory recognition of fear and anger following bilateral amygdala lesions. Nature 385(6613):254–57.Google Scholar
Young, L., Bechara, A., Tranel, D., Damasio, H., Hauser, M. & Damasio, A. (2010) Damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex impairs judgment of harmful intent. Neuron 65(6):845–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yu, R., Calder, A. J. & Mobbs, D. (submitted) Advantageous inequality leads to prosocial payoffs in humans.Google Scholar