To take revenge or not to take revenge? Psychologists are studying more deeply how people perceive revenge and those who take revenge.

Revenge is often considered socially inappropriate and morally frowned upon - a form of "savage justice". Most people agree that revenge is immoral. On the other hand, people love stories in which the victim effectively takes revenge on the offender. In addition, previous studies have also confirmed that people by nature favor revenge.

Thus, the research team of Professor Caroline Dyduch-Hazar (Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Germany) and Professor Dr. Mario Gollwitzer (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany) examined whether people actually morally condemn the act of revenge itself, or rather the pleasure that the avenger may experience.

In a series of four surveys, three with carefully selected groups of Polish students and one with a similarly configured sample of American adults, the researchers noted interesting nuances between situations in which criminals showed pride in taking revenge, as opposed to cases in which they felt pleasure., as well as cases when survey participants imagined themselves in the role of an imaginary avenger or were simply observers.

In their study, published open access in the Social Psychological Bulletin, the team confirmed that even though people who commit revenge may gain approval, they are still morally are condemned in comparison with those who decide not to take revenge.

Interestingly, when survey participants rated hypothetical situations in which vigilantes showed satisfaction with their actions, they were attributed traits such as greater competence (meaning confidence, ability, effectiveness) compared to imaginary people who felt bad about themselves. For revenge on their offenders, or on those who did not take revenge at all.

Here, the researchers explain that revenge and subsequent satisfaction are perceived more as proof of the actor's ability to achieve goals.

On the other hand, when imaginary avengers were described as experiencing pleasure, survey participants considered them especially immoral.

“Feelings of pleasure after taking revenge may signal that the initial motivation was not to teach the offender a moral lesson, but rather to feel good about oneself—a selfish and morally dubious motivation,” the scientists comment.

Interestingly, there were noticeable differences between the same scenarios where survey participants imagined themselves as vigilantes and those where they were simply observers. When they imagined themselves committing revenge, participants viewed themselves as less moral than, say, their colleague doing the same thing.

Besides, if someone else had carried out the revenge, that person would have seemed more competent. These results, according to the authors, contradict previous scientific evidence that when evaluating others, their actions are assessed from a moral point of view, while self-esteem is usually based on competence.

Among other interesting findings from a series of surveys, the researchers noted that feeling good (versus bad) about revenge did not influence the likelihood of revenge.

On average, participants stated that they would not punish their offender. Moreover, it turned out that the fear of being judged by themselves did not affect the likelihood that they would retaliate or not.

Although they report a number of interesting findings, most of which contrast with previous knowledge and findings, the researchers note several limitations of their study that require further research to confirm their observations.

First, their findings may be culturally specific. They remind us that, for example, vigilantes are not condemned so harshly in those communities and countries where honor is especially valued. Second, the surveys used hypothetical situations.

Finally, the study authors note that participants simply had to imagine revenge and the resulting good/bad feelings.