Why does a person, out of vindictiveness, behave in ways that are almost certain to result in pain and anguish to him/herself? The old adage, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face,” illustrates figuratively what humans have long known as the consequences of being spiteful—having a desire to hurt others that is so strong, you are willing to hurt yourself in order to act on it. At its worst, this kind of vengeful behavior could result, for example, in murder-suicide. As part of a study of the impact of spite, researchers developed a “spitefulness scale” that assesses personality traits involved in spiteful behavior, e.g., #aggression, guilt-free shame, Machiavellian-ism, narcissism, and #psychopathy. Traits found to be associated with the opposite of spitefulness included agreeableness, conscientiousness, guilt-proneness, and self-esteem. Men, more than women—and younger people, more than older folks--were prone to “cut off their own nose.” Is it the wisdom that comes with aging that makes the difference? Or do we not, as we get older, have the energy for spiteful actions? What about the gender differences? How would you explain them? cbsnews/news/pain-is-a-small-price-to-pay-to-carry-out-our-own-spitefulness-study-finds/
Posted on: Wed, 07 May 2014 21:22:45 +0000
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