Sweet revenge? Children retaliate based on cost, intention and relationship without reaching their baseline emotion

Abstract

Schadenfreude, the enjoyment following watching others misfortune, is deeply rooted in our species (Mendes et al, 2018). Moreover, humans feel pleasure when offenders are punished (Singer et al, 2004). Hence, humans seem to possess a pleasure-driven built-in vindictive impulse. How does this impulse develop into adulthood? Although many studies have used economic games to explore how children punish inequity, no study has explored how children modulate their vindictive responses and emotional states in realistic scenarios.

Children (247 six-year-olds (50% girls), 94 ten-year-olds (49% girls), 68 13-year-olds (50% girls) and 42 15-year-olds (50% girls)) participated in an anonymous online drawing contest against other (fake) same-aged children. Subjects uploaded their drawings to a virtual platform where others deleted them intentionally or accidentally. Then, subjects could select one out of four responses whose cost to themselves (=losing virtual coins to be exchanged for rewards) and consequences to the offenders depended on the severity of the subject s response. We recorded how participants felt before and after their loss and their response against the offender. We manipulated the cost and nature (intentional or accidental) of the offending action and whether the offender was a friend of the victim.

Children felt better after getting revenge but never reached their baseline emotional state (Z=-7.86, p<.001). Participants were more punitive after intentional compared to accidental actions (Z=-4.95, p<.001), and their response was more severe if cost to themselves was absent (Z=-13.180, p<.001). Only in the accidental condition the response was significantly less severe if the offender was a friend. Children modulated their punitive response depending on the offender s intention, cost to themselves, and their relationship with the offender. Emotionally, revenge is sweet but not the sweetest action to perform. Further studies should explore whether restorative rather than retributive measures lead to better emotional outcomes.