Sweet or bitter? A meta-analytic review on pleasantness and unpleasantness of revenge

This meta-analysis examined what revenge feels like. We located 54 research reports (k = 99), comprising 14,612 participants and spanning the years 1974 to 2025. Overall, revenge was significantly associated with pleasant feelings (r = .19, [.12, .25]), but not significantly associated with unpleasant feelings (r = .06, [-.06, .17]). Specifically, both enacted and envisioned revenge were associated with pleasant feelings. This association was observed across different measurement types and assessment times, although it was stronger when feelings were assessed during revenge than shortly after revenge, suggesting that the pleasure of revenge fades with time. Findings were consistent across published and unpublished works as well as preregistered and non-pre-registered studies. Conversely, envisioned revenge was associated with unpleasant feelings, whereas enacted revenge was not. The association between revenge and unpleasant feelings weakened over the last 50 years and was moderated by the preregistration presence, such that revenge was positively associated with unpleasant feelings in non-pre-registered studies but negatively associated with unpleasant feelings in preregistered studies. Taken together, these findings suggest that revenge is particularly pleasant during the act itself, supporting the reinforcement model of revenge and providing little evidence that revenge is followed by pronounced unpleasant emotional aftertaste. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).