Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) have found that most people prefer to retaliate right away when they feel wronged. The researchers conducted six experiments and discovered 58% of the participants liked to act right away, even with the possibility of dealing a lesser blow.
Participants chose revenge over taking money
According to Dr. David Chester, the lead researcher and the assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences, the researchers found that the participants preferred to take quick revenge rather than formulate a plot to get back at someone who had wronged them.
Participants admitted that they would also like revenge over taking money. Researchers concluded that people chose revenge to teach their enemies a lesson.
The researchers also asked the volunteers to think about a past wrong. In this case, they preferred a delayed but more effective form of revenge.
Dr. Samuel West, who works with the Injury and Violence Program at VCU, says that the volunteers preferred delayed revenge when asked to think of someone who had hurt them as a hypothetical target.
The experiments conducted
In an experiment, the researchers asked voltmeters to play a video game against someone they thought was an actual opponent. They had to choose between inflicting a small noise blast on the same day or impose a louder one the next day through their headphones.
In another experiment, the researchers asked them to interact with two other people in a virtual chat room. The participants soon found that they were excluded from most of the conversation. Afterwards, researchers told them to decide how long each of the other chat members would dip their hands in freezing water.
The researchers also found that participants who wanted to delay revenge had more antagonistic traits such as angry rumination and sadism.
Most of the participants reacted to wrongs done to them in what they considered as a proportionate, reasonable and timely manner. However, when the wrong people were provoked ( people with antagonistic traits) or the provocation was severe, delayed and calculated form of revenge was the norm.
Researchers note that the study could be used to explain the theories of aggression and antisocial behavior.
