Do Victims of Injustice Punish to Improve Their Mood?

Abstract

Previous research has shown that angry people sometimes aggress to improve their mood. The present research tests whether people who have been treated unjustly seek revenge (i.e., retributive punishment) to improve their mood. The authors hypothesized that retributive punishment is generally not fuelled by a desire to improve one’s mood, whereas more destructive forms of aggression (e.g., venting one’s anger against people or inanimate objects) are. In Study 1, half of the participants were led to believe that their mood was frozen. In Study 2, half of the participants were led to believe that their mood would automatically improve at the end of the study by visiting a “good mood room” with snacks, beverages, and media. Retributive punishment was not affected by either mood management manipulation, whereas destructiveness was. Study 3 expands these findings by showing that retributive reactions were only reduced by a mood improvement manipulation when self-focus was induced.