Why revenge feels good — and what it costs

Revenge feels sweet... At least for a moment. James Kimmel Jr knows that better than most.

As a lawyer, he made a career out of helping clients get payback. But the drive for revenge started to eat away at him, threatening to destroy his work life and relationships.

Coming back from the brink, he started to wonder — why are we drawn to payback? What impacts does it have on the brain? And can revenge ever be addictive?

In this episode, we explore some of the neuroscience of revenge: what's going on in the brain when we seek it out, the rewards we get from it, the damage it causes and how to stop it. Plus, are we hardwired for forgiveness?

Just a heads up, there is a brief mention of animal cruelty in the intro of this episode, so please take care while listening.

You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest:

James Kimmel, Jr., JDAssistant Clinical Professor, PsychiatryYale School of MedicineAuthor, The Science of Revenge

Credits:

• Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
• Senior producer: James Bullen
• Producer: Rose Kerr
• Sound engineer: Simon Branthwaite

Thanks to freesound.org users craigsmith, Scott_Snailham and EwanPenman11. 

More information:

The neural basis of altruistic punishment

The sunny side of fairness: preference for fairness activates reward circuitry (and disregarding unfairness activates self-control circuitry)

The neural basis of economic decision-making in the Ultimatum Game

"An eye for an eye"? Neural correlates of retribution and forgiveness