WORLD SCIENCE

"Long before it's in the papers"
April 20, 2005

Why revenge feels good

Posted August 30, 2004
Science

A Swiss brain imaging study now suggests that we get satisfaction from teaching people a lesson when they have behaved badly. These findings may at least partly explain why we reprimand people who have abused our trust or broken other social rules -- even if doing so doesn't offer us any direct, practical benefits.

Dominique de Quervain of the University of Zurich and colleagues scanned the brain activity of male volunteers participating in a game of exchanging money back and forth. If one player made a selfish choice instead of a mutually beneficial one, the other could penalize him. The majority of the players chose to impose the penalty even when it cost some of their own money. 

The researchers determined that deciding to impose this penalty activated a brain region, the dorsal striatum, involved in experiencing enjoyment or satisfaction. 

The findings are published in today's issue of the research journal Science. In a related commentary, Stanford University's Brian Knutson notes that future research will need to explore how this phenomenon may vary by gender and social group.

WORLD SCIENCE

WORLD SCIENCE