Abstract
Retaliating against a threatening outgroup offers group members specific rewards, such as restored group esteem, a reduction in anger, and a sense of gratification. Because retaliation is rewarding, group members may appraise an attack on the outgroup to be beneficial, even if it feels physically painful. We hypothesized that group members would be more willing to endure pain to retaliate against a threatening outgroup, and that appraising the painful retaliation as rewarding would down-regulate their physiological stress response to pain. Participants were manipulated to feel threatened by a rival group and then completed the cold-pressor. During the cold-pressor, participants either retaliated against the outgroup or not. Results showed that retaliation inhibited physiological responses to pain, alleviated intergroup anger, and felt less aversive. We propose that these responses are caused by a cognitive reappraisal of pain, where painful retaliation is expected to be rewarding instead of threatening.
Zachary Hohman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences
The goal of my research is to integrate basic cognitive processes into social interactive processes, societal processes, individual process, and internal processes that explain individual health behavior.
Breanna Harris, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
I am a behavioral endocrinologist studying how organisms physiologically and behaviorally respond to and cope with challenges (stressors).