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Situational precursors of revenge: Social exclusion, relationship type, and opportunity
Author(s) -
ELSHOUT MAARTJE,
NELISSEN ROB M. A.,
VAN BEEST ILJA,
ELSHOUT SUZAN,
VAN DIJK WILCO W.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/pere.12185
Subject(s) - closeness , situational ethics , feeling , psychology , social psychology , social exclusion , criminology , political science , law , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Little is known about the situational factors that turn feelings of revenge into actual acts of revenge. Addressing this gap in the literature, this study selected a representative sample of people who acted on their feelings of revenge (avengers) and of people who did not (nonavengers), obtaining a reflection of typical antecedents of revenge. Results revealed that avengers did not report more severe offenses. Neither did avengers report less closeness to offenders nor a larger number of audience members toward whom they might want to prove something. Results did reveal that revenge was more prevalent (a) among young, male friends and acquaintances; (b) in contexts involving social exclusion; and (c) if there was a possibility to take revenge.