# Revenge? or Karma?



## David Baxter PhD (Jul 27, 2018)

*Does Revenge Work? Our Minds on Vengeance*
By Ellen Hendriksen, PhD, _Savvy Psychologist_
27 July 2018

Listener Melissa writes from San Francisco, "I  struggle with letting go of any kind of injustice. Whether it's on the  national level such as the unfair treatment of minorities, or something  as small as another customer skipping me in line at the store, I really  tend to dwell on this wrongdoing." She points out that even though human  brains often wander to thoughts of revenge, she doesn’t think she would  derive much satisfaction from it. She asked me to riff on injustice and  revenge, with a goal of understanding herself (and her fellow humans) a  little better.

*What Is Justice Sensitivity?*
 As it turns out, Melissa is not alone in her struggle to let go of  injustice, inequity, or unfairness. In fact, it’s a personality trait  called _justice sensitivity_, defined as our awareness of and  reactivity to injustice. In other words, it’s how finely tuned our  antennae are to corruption, inequality, unfairness, and generally  getting screwed.

*The 4 Kinds of Justice Sensitivity*
 In fact, there are four different types of justice sensitivity.


The first is called *victim justice sensitivity*,  which is constantly staying on the lookout to make sure we don’t get  screwed. This vigilance often goes along with anger and a tendency  towards revenge. 
Next is *observer justice sensitivity*,  which is outrage when observing unfair treatment of others without being  directly involved. A recent example of this was the outpouring of  protest at the American government on behalf of immigrant families who  were being separated at the border. 
Third is *perpetrator justice sensitivity*,  which is an inclination to punish oneself for unjust behaviors in order  to assuage guilt or make things right. For example, a Utah man named  Reggie Shaw, who was responsible for two deaths in a  texting-while-driving accident, has traveled the country ever since  speaking out against distracted driving. 
Last is *beneficiary justice sensitivity*,  where we experience situations in which we benefit from injustice as  aversive. For example, Benedict Cumberbatch made headlines when he  announced he would only join projects where his female co-stars received  equal pay. 
 The important difference among all these types of justice sensitivity  is that the first, victim sensitivity, is focused on the self, whereas  the other types are focused on others. We’ll circle back to this, so  hold tight.

 Now, while injustice resonates a little deeper or a little shallower with each of us, all of us have a sense of it. It’s inborn.

*The Innate Sense of Justice in Humans*
 To illustrate, a study out of the University of Washington,  using eye-tracking technology, found that 15-month-old toddlers looked  longer at a video in which two people were given an unequal distribution  of milk and crackers, versus a video in which the people received equal  portions of milk and crackers. Measuring how long babies fixate on a  scene is a proven method for working with study participants who can’t  yet talk. They gaze longer when things are unexpected, nonsensical, or,  it turns out, when events violate the rules of equality.

 But wait — toddlers’ sense of justice is even more complex.  Turns out toddlers are also attuned to the concept of equal pay for  equal work. A study in the journal _Psychological Science_ had  21-month-olds watch a live scene where two lab assistants were told, “If  you put the toys away, you can have a sticker!” Then, one of two things  happens. Either both the assistants clean the toys up equally and each  earns a sticker — a clear example of proportional rewards; or, one cleans  while the other slacks off and keeps playing, but once the toys are all  put away, they each get a sticker — a clear example of inequitable reward.  The 21-month-olds looked significantly longer at the unequal scene — a  finding that the researchers interpreted to mean they were not okay with  the slacker getting rewarded.

 Whether this means that a sense of justice is hardwired or  that we learn the rules of society before our second birthdays, it’s  clear that even before they can explain themselves, babies can spot when  someone gets the shaft.

*So, Does Revenge Work?*
 This brings us to Melissa’s question about revenge. Does it work? Should we make like Demi Lovato and get revenge while looking like a ten?



 If your name is Earl, should you watch your back for The Dixie Chicks?



  The answer to "does revenge make us feel better?" is a  solid: it depends. Revenge works, but only for those who fit a certain  profile.

*Revenge and Sadism*
 According to a study in the _Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin_,  those who seek revenge tend to be less forgiving and tend to ruminate  more about the offense. This makes sense — if you’re Inigo Montoya, obsessing about revenging your father’s death is going to be a major source of motivation. 



But fixation on slights  and rejections is unpleasant and takes up a lot of bandwidth.  Interestingly, those who seek revenge also tend to have lower life  satisfaction, meaning there’s not a lot of perceived good in their life  to absorb the blow of an offense. So far, not such a rosy picture.

 But there’s more. Those who do get satisfaction from revenge tend to have higher negative affect about the offense — in  other words, they feel particularly hurt and angry. This part is  important because people tend to exact revenge as an attempt at mood  repair—to feel better. But as you might guess, this plan works most effectively in those who have a dash of sadism. For better or worse, vengeance feels best when you already find pleasure in inflicting pain and humiliation.

*The Role of Scapegoating*
 What about for those of us that aren’t sadists? A  lighter version of revenge is scapegoating, or singling out a person or  group for undeserved blame.

Scapegoating can happen in the name of justice. For instance, a study out of the University of Kansas asked  participants, all of whom identified as middle class, to read a fake  news article titled “The Plight of Working Class Americans.” There were  two versions of the article, however. Half the participants read one  version, where blame was placed on the middle class, concluding,  "...chasing the cheapest deals has benefited the pocketbooks of  middle-class Americans while leading to severe unemployment and  crippling wage stagnation among working-class Americans." In the second  version, the article was exactly the same, but blamed the upper class,  not the middle-class participants.

 Next, all participants read a second article titled  either "Illegal Immigrants Successful in Economic Slump," or "Illegal  Immigrants Suffer in Economic Slump."

 Then what happened? When participants thought someone else — like those upper-class schmucks — were  responsible for injustice facing working class Americans, there was  less moral outrage at illegal immigrants, whether or not they were  portrayed as successful.

 But when participants thought their own middle-class  group was to blame for injustice and illegal immigrants were portrayed  as successful, they expressed more moral outrage at the immigrants. 

 As for revenge, don’t bother getting down in the mud — let karma do your work for you.

 In other words, participants felt outraged at the injustice faced by  the working class, but it wasn’t necessarily a desire to restore  justice. Instead, the researchers concluded, blaming the immigrants  helped relieve guilt and shore up participants’ moral self-image.

*The Bottom Line on Revenge*
 Okay, let’s wrap this all up. First, should we get  revenge? Will we feel better? Probably not, unless we find vengeance  pleasant, which gives rise to its own concerns.

 Second, we can take the temperature of our moral  outrage to see if it’s a genuine concern or, like the middle-class  experiment, more a way to make ourselves feel less guilty and reinforce  our view of ourselves as good people.

 Finally, is it a problem to feel moral outrage? Or  does it just mean we’re finely tuned to fairness? Remember I promised  we’d circle back to justice sensitivity. Well, in a nutshell, being extra sensitive to slights can be seen as egotistical and, at the extreme, even antisocial, but outrage on behalf of others is linked to being cooperative and helpful.

 So go ahead and rage against the machine, so long as it’s on  behalf of others. As for revenge, don’t bother getting down in the mud — let karma do your work for you.


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