Revenge may be all in the anticipation

Most of us have revenge fantasies, human behavior researchers say, and nearly everyone believes that punishing someone who did him wrong would feel tremendously satisfying. But new studies suggest the reality of revenge is far different. Acting on vengeful thoughts often isn't nearly as gratifying as expected and — surprisingly — can even make people feel worse.

Still, the delicious pleasure anticipated from taking revenge is such a powerful drive that it appears to be hard-wired in the brain.

University of Zurich scientists found that merely contemplating revenge stimulates a region of the brain called the dorsal striatum, which is known to become active in anticipation of a reward or pleasure, such as making money or eating good food.

In the study, 14 volunteers earned money if they cooperated with one another in games. A double-crosser pretended to cooperate but secretly took an unfair share of the cash. Victims could retaliate by imposing a fine on the betrayer, though they sometimes had to spend their own money to carry out the punishment.

All 14 volunteers chose to retaliate if they could do so at no charge, and 12 out of 14 did so even if it cost them additional money. When they decided to seek revenge, the dorsal striatum lighted up on a PET scan. Those whose brains were activated the most were willing to spend the most to punish the double-crosser, notes study co-author Ernst Fehr, whose research was published in Science in 2004.

It's not surprising that our brains signal "pleasure" at the prospect of punishing someone who wronged us, says Michael McCullough, a University of Miami psychologist and author of "Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct." Although it can be a misguided, costly craving in the modern world, evolutionary psychologists believe the thirst for revenge ensured our ancestors' survival — retaliation was the only way for victims to deter aggressors from harming them or their tribes in the future.

"Revenge burrowed into the brain's reward system — it hitched a ride on our neurons — because it really was effective at deterring future harm," says McCullough, who notes that revenge is ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom.

Acts worthy of vengeance are seemingly everywhere — we need look no further than across the room to find targets.

Revenge fantasies are rampant at workplaces of every type, says Robert Bies, an organizational behavior expert at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., who has studied revenge on the job for 16 years. In roughly 1,000 face-to-face interviews, Bies has heard all about "free riders" who skated by on the work of others, bosses who took credit for their subordinates' ideas, sneaky co-workers who stole plum assignments, managers who promoted their pets over more qualified employees and more. Although the employees in his studies said they yearned to get even, about one-third of them did nothing, he says.