Psychologists are finally taking a long, hard look at spite

Thinkstock

Psychologists are finally taking a long, hard look at spite
(Image credit: Thinkstock)

Psychologists have spent years studying selfishness, greed, and narcissism, and now it's time for spite to have its turn in the spotlight. Dr. David K. Marcus, a psychologist at Washington State University, was spared the temptation of spite when he discovered that hardly any attention has been paid to this particular bad behavior. "Spitefulness is such an intrinsically interesting subject, and it fits with so many people's everyday experience, that I was surprised to see how little mention there was of it in the psychology literature," he tells The New York Times.

Marcus and his colleagues gave 946 college students and 297 other adults a 17-item survey that asked them to rate, on a "spitefulness scale," statements like "I would be willing to take a punch if it meant someone I did not like would receive two punches" (who wouldn't?) and "If I opposed the election of an official, I would happily see the person fail even if that failure hurt my community" (ouch, that one's kind of brutal).

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.