TY - JOUR
T1 - Vicarious revenge and the death of Osama bin Laden
AU - Gollwitzer, M.
AU - Skitka, L.J.
AU - Wisneski, D.
AU - Sjöström, D.
AU - Liberman, P.
AU - Nazir, S.J.
AU - Bushman, B.J.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Three hypotheses were derived from research on vicarious revenge and tested in the context of the assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011. In line with the notion that revenge aims at delivering a message (the "message hypothesis"), Study 1 shows that Americans' vengeful desires in the aftermath of 9/11 predicted a sense of justice achieved after bin Laden's death, and that this effect was mediated by perceptions that his assassination sent a message to the perpetrators to not "mess" with the United States. In line with the "blood lust hypothesis," his assassination also sparked a desire to take further revenge and to continue the "war on terror." Finally, in line with the "intent hypothesis," Study 2 shows that Americans (but not Pakistanis or Germans) considered the fact that bin Laden was killed intentionally more satisfactory than the possibility of bin Laden being killed accidentally (e.g., in an airplane crash). © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
AB - Three hypotheses were derived from research on vicarious revenge and tested in the context of the assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011. In line with the notion that revenge aims at delivering a message (the "message hypothesis"), Study 1 shows that Americans' vengeful desires in the aftermath of 9/11 predicted a sense of justice achieved after bin Laden's death, and that this effect was mediated by perceptions that his assassination sent a message to the perpetrators to not "mess" with the United States. In line with the "blood lust hypothesis," his assassination also sparked a desire to take further revenge and to continue the "war on terror." Finally, in line with the "intent hypothesis," Study 2 shows that Americans (but not Pakistanis or Germans) considered the fact that bin Laden was killed intentionally more satisfactory than the possibility of bin Laden being killed accidentally (e.g., in an airplane crash). © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
U2 - 10.1177/0146167214521466
DO - 10.1177/0146167214521466
M3 - Article
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 40
SP - 604
EP - 616
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
IS - 5
ER -