The Science of Revenge

Revenge is one of humanity's oldest hobbies, ranking somewhere between eating things we should not eat and arguing about property lines. Long before there were police departments, civil courts, insurance adjusters, workplace grievance procedures, or passive-aggressive neighborhood association meetings, there was revenge. Somebody stole your goat, insulted your family, cheated you in a trade, wandered off with your spouse, knocked down your fence, poisoned your well, or simply looked at you in a way you considered disrespectful, and suddenly you had a project for the weekend.The desire for revenge is not merely a cultural invention or a weakness of character. It is connected to some very old machinery inside the human brain. We are social animals, and social animals keep track of cooperation, betrayal, status, fairness, and threat. When another person harms us deliberately, especially when we believe the harm was unfair, the event can become psychologically sticky. We replay it. We rewrite the conversation while driving. We imagine what we should have said. We imagine what they should suffer. At three in the morning the brain may convene an emergency meeting attended by Anger, Pride, Humiliation, and a lawyer who has not technically been hired.