Like gazpacho, a lot of people will say “revenge is a dish best served cold”, meaning that it’s more satisfying when planned over time, and enacted when least expected.
Well, also like gazpacho, you can also serve revenge HOT AND FAST, and apparently, that’s what most people prefer these days.
Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University say most people would rather retaliate right away. Across six experiments, 58% of participants preferred to take immediate revenge, even if it meant dealing a lesser blow to an enemy.
In one experiment, a majority of the participants even chose quick revenge over receiving money. The researchers say people seem to want to dole out an immediate response to “teach others a lesson.”
Of course, there were situations where people would delay it as well. Those situations were more common when “provocations become so severe that people would ruminate about them over and over again,”
Or when people provoke the “wrong person,” like someone with “antagonistic personality traits.”
