The proof revenge is a dish best served cold

REVENGE really is a dish best served cold – as people who feel wronged by someone else can take up to a year to exact retribution, according to new research.

Instant retaliation is uncommon, say Dutch psychologists, who found that only about one person in ten strikes back immediately after being offended.

Of the two-thirds of men and women who admit to being vengeful, nearly 40 per cent have carried out acts of score-settling, from playing loud music and obstructive parking to infidelity and spreading gossip.

The researchers believe the timing of retribution suggests it is not done simply to punish offenders but to restore the avenger’s own self-esteem and sense of power over the situation.

‘Our results show that revenge takes place after some time,’ said study co-author Maartje Elshout of Tilburg University. ‘Real-life revenge is not so much focused on deterrence, but on restoring selfesteem or a sense of power. The act of revenge does not need to be instantaneous nor proportional.’

In the study, published in the Journal Of Social Psychology, Dr Elshout and her team quizzed nearly 2,000 people aged 16 to 89 about their experience of revenge, including the time it took to seek retribution and what they did.

Two-thirds of the volunteers had experienced feelings of wanting to take revenge, and 37.6 per cent had actually taken revenge at least once. Some had carried out up to four acts of revenge.

Results show that 14.4 per cent took revenge immediately, within a minute. About 36 per cent took up to a week, with 23 per cent striking one to four weeks later. Some 21 per cent hit back between one month and a year later, and around five per cent took more than a year to get their own back.

‘The majority of avengers took revenge after at least a day had passed and a large group took revenge between one week and one month after the offence,’ says Dr Elshout. ‘Our findings suggest that revenge is typically delayed.’

Revenge acts admitted by participants in the study include infidelity, damaging a car, disclosing secrets or making false accusations and trying to get someone fired.

Other ways of taking revenge included belittling or humiliating someone, gossiping, lying, parking a car in front of a garage and breaking a promise.