The percentage of participants who decide to take displaced revenge
did not vary as a function of our manipulation in Study 3. On the one
hand, this eliminates potential confounding factors; on the other
hand, it seems to speak against earlier findings showing that displaced
revenge is more likely the more entitative the transgressor group is
perceived to be (e.g., Stenstrom et al., 2008). However, one has to
consider that in previous research displaced (or vicarious) revenge
has been conceptualized as the severity of punishment taken against
the entire group and not against one specific member of that group
(see above). In our design, participants were asked to decide whether
revenge should be taken instead of assigning the amount of punishment.
These differences may at least partly explain the divergent findings
between our and others' research. Of course, this speculation requires
further investigation
Taken together, the present research shows that even displaced
revenge can taste sweet and lead to a sense of re-established justice.
Victims' satisfaction with revenge may be interpreted as an indicator
that a certain goal has been achieved (see e.g., Funk et al., 2014;
Gollwitzer et al., 2011). Therefore, the next important step is to elucidate exactly what that goal is: Does displaced revenge against entitative
groups feel good because each member of the group is seen as a perpetrator?