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Science 27 August 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5688, pp. 1246 - 1247
DOI: 10.1126/science.1102822
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Perspectives

BEHAVIOR:
Sweet Revenge?

Brian Knutson

Revenge feels good! Most of us take satisfaction in punishing violators of social norms and may even incur costs to do so. In a Perspective, Knutson takes us on a joy ride through the brain to seek the areas involved in the exacting of revenge. Intriguingly, it is the striatum, a key subcortical brain structure involved in feeling satisfaction, that is activated in human volunteers subjected to PET imaging as they play a game designed to elicit acts of revenge (de Quervain et al.).

The author is in the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. E-mail: knutson{at}psych.stanford.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Social Theory as a Cognitive Neuroscience.
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European Journal of Social Theory 10, 357-374
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Explaining Norm Enforcement.
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Rationality and Society 19, 139-170
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The Mind of the Terrorist: A Review and Critique of Psychological Approaches.
J. Victoroff (2005)
Journal of Conflict Resolution 49, 3-42
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A Positive Neural Payoff for Revenge?.
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Journal Watch Psychiatry 2004, 1
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