The Impact of Shame, Humiliation and Pride on Revenge Desire and Behavior in Victims of Crime: A Pilot Experimental Study

Experiencing violent crime has been associated with a higher likelihood of committing violent offenses, which can be driven by revenge desire. Revenge desire can also harm victims’ mental health. While anger is a well-established emotional predictor of revenge, the role of self-conscious emotions, including shame, humiliation, and pride, has rarely been tested. These emotions may be especially relevant to crime victims, who frequently experience shame and humiliation post-victimization. This study examined whether inducing shame and humiliation increased revenge desire and behavior, and whether inducing pride reduced revenge, in crime victims (N = 108). Participants were betrayed in a prisoner’s dilemma game and randomly assigned to a shame/humiliation, pride, or control condition. They then reported revenge desire and could administer noise-blasts as revenge. Humiliation significantly predicted both revenge desire and acts; shame approached significance for revenge desire, and pride was unrelated. These findings suggest that negative self-conscious emotions, particularly humiliation, can trigger revenge in crime victims and should be targeted in violence prevention efforts.