rational revenge

from yahoo! news:

"The new study chips 'yet another sliver from the rational model of economic man,' said Stanford University psychologist Brian Knutson, who reviewed the Swiss research. 'Instead of cold, calculated reason, it is passion that may plant the seeds of revenge,' he said.
People often are eager to punish wrongdoers even if the revenge brings them no personal gain or actually costs them something. From a practical standpoint, that may seem irrational. "

feeling good is not irrational, even from a practical standpoint. i've proposed before that our brains might unconsciously weigh the costs and benefits of our actions, even where emotions are involved, factoring emotional costs and benefits into the equation as well. the "high" we get from revenge may outweigh any harm we anticipate from the event, although whether we foresee that correctly is another story. the study's findings suggest this as well:

When the retaliation cost them money, a second brain region that helps weigh costs and benefits got involved, too, but the striatum remained key. The level of activity actually predicted which players would spend more money to get revenge.

the striatum is involved in enjoyment and satisfaction, and the article states that it's activation indicates "satisfaction from anticipating it [revenge]". so the more you predict that you'll be emotionally satisfied by revenge, the more likely you are to actually seek it. seems rational to me.

read the whole journal article: Quervain, D, Fischbacher, U, Treyer, V, Schellhammer, N, Schnyder, U, Buck, A, Fehr, E. The Neural Basis of Altruistic Punishment, Science, Vol 305, Issue 5688, 1254-1258 , 27 August 2004.

hat-tip: "magic" amanda brand

Labels: decision making, neuroscience