Abstract

Experiences of humiliation, unjust hurt caused by another or anger naturally, elicit the desire to seek revenge and fantasies of revenge. The current study examined the associations between a history of traumatic events and feelings of injustice and levels of desire for revenge-seeking and fantasies of revenge. Specifically, it tested whether feelings of injustice mediated the associations between the number of past traumatic events and the desire for revenge or revenge fantasies. Based on recent studies showing that retaliatory violence is gendered, sex differences in levels of feelings of injustice, desire for revenge, and the presence of revenge fantasies were explored, as well whether participants’ sex conditioned the mediation models. The results showed positive associations between feelings of injustice and the desire for revenge and revenge fantasies. The mediation model indicated that feelings of injustice mediated the associations between the number of previous traumatic events and the desire for revenge or revenge fantasies. Men had higher levels of revenge fantasies than women, whereas women tended to perceive revenge as pointless. A sex effect was found for the mediation model, which revealed significant regressed models for women but not for men. The clinical implications are discussed.

Highlights

  • Revenge is defined as “an action in response to some perceived harm or wrongdoing by another party that is determined to inflict damage, injury, discomfort, or punishment to the party judged responsible” (Aquino et al, 2001, pp. 53)

  • No correlations were found between the number of experienced traumatic events and the desire for revenge or fantasies of revenge

  • There was no direct link between the number of experienced traumatic events and the desire for revenge and revenge fantasies

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Revenge is defined as “an action in response to some perceived harm or wrongdoing by another party that is determined to inflict damage, injury, discomfort, or punishment to the party judged responsible” (Aquino et al, 2001, pp. 53). When the individual perceives him or herself as severely harmed by another person, who is held responsible for this harm to the individual’s ego, the ego assesses the harm as morally wrong and unjustified, and develops a Revenge Fantasies and Sex motivation for retaliation (Orth, 2004; McClelland, 2010). This comes from the belief that the perpetrator should not profit from his or her wrongdoings; many people believe that the perpetrator deserves to be subjected to equal harm to that caused by him or her. This is important, since power and control, the perception of one’s ability to influence others, are a basic human need (Salter, 2014; Lillie and Strelan, 2016)

Objectives
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call