Vicarious Revenge and the Death of Osama bin Laden

Abstract

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).

What makes displaced revenge taste sweet: Retributing displaced responsibility or sending a message to the original perpetrator?

“…Nonetheless, revenge can have hedonic benefits if perpetrators understand why revenge has been taken against them, and if they signal that they would change their behavior in the future (Funk, McGeer, & Gollwitzer, ; Gollwitzer & Denzler, ; Gollwitzer, Meder, & Schmitt, ). This pattern of results suggests that the underlying goal of revenge is to send a message to the perpetrator: “Don't mess with me.” In a similar vein, survey research on U.S. Americans' reactions to the assassination of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 has shown that vengeful desires in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks predicted respondents' satisfaction with the death of Osama bin Laden to the extent that his death sent a strong message “not to mess” with the U.S. (Gollwitzer et al, ). Thus, sending a message to the original perpetrator(s) may be what motivates (and justifies) not only direct forms, but also vicarious forms of punishment (Gollwitzer & Sjöström, ).…”

“…Displaced revenge-retaliatory acts that are directed not against the original perpetrator, but rather against a third person who was not directly involved in the original act-is a form of vicarious retribution (Lickel, 2012;Lickel, Miller, Stenstrom, Denson, & Schmader, 2006), and it is conceptually related to (but not identical with) displaced aggression (Marcus-Newhall, Pedersen, Carlson, & Miller, 2000;Miller, Pedersen, Earleywine, & Pollock, 2003). Vicarious retribution occurs whenever those not directly involved in the original offense are involved in the retributive act-such as in the case of James Foley; or in the case of U.S. American citizens endorsing military attacks against targets in the Middle East in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks (e.g., Gollwitzer et al, 2014;Washburn & Skitka, 2014). Displaced revenge occurs when a victim retaliates against a specific target that merely belongs to the same social category or the same "group" as the original perpetrator.…”

Motivated and Displaced Revenge: Remembering 9/11 Suppresses Opposition to Military Intervention in Syria (for Some)

“…In addition, angry rumination, most likely an aspect of desire for vengeance, is a precursor to aggressive behavior and may even increase the propensity for revenge (see Denson, for a review). Consistent with this idea, people's desires for vengeance for 9/11 measured in 2003 remained strong and predicted continued desires to hunt down terrorists, even more than 10 years later (Gollwitzer et al., ). Americans’ anger and desire for vengeance for 9/11, therefore, appears not only to be very strong, but to also be particularly enduring.…”

“…Desire for revenge. Desire for revenge for 9/11 was assessed using a measure commonly used in research on 9/11 (see Gollwitzer et al, 2014;Lerner, Gonzalez, Small, & Fischhoff, 2003;Skitka, Bauman, & Mullen, 2004). Participants were provided with the stem "When thinking about the terrorist attack on 9/11 (in London in July, 2005) to what extent did you feel .…”

A mixed methods study of satisfaction with justice and desire for revenge in survivors of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City's World Trade Center

“…One of these 9/11 studies was a quantitative study of undergraduate students at Berkeley, which examined their beliefs in a just world and desire for revenge against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks (Kaiser, Vick, & Major, 2004). The second study investigated vicarious revenge and sense of justice after the assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2001 (Gollwitzer et al, 2014). The third 9/11 study was a qualitative study of school-aged children's perception of justice and revenge in relation to the 9/11 attacks (Beauchesne, Kelley, Patsdaughter, & Pickard, 2002).…”