Browsing by Author "Sciban, Rowan"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Self-esteem and revenge in romantic relationships
    (2012) Sciban, Rowan; Boon, Susan D.
    The objective of this study was to test whether people respond to a perceived transgression by engaging in revenge to restore their own self-regard and a sense of personal power in their relationship. Participants (N =80; 70 female) were recruited from the University of Calgary undergraduate research participation system and brought their romantic partners with them to the lab. Participants were assigned to a control group or an experimental group. The latter experienced an acceptance-threat and then were given the opportunity to take revenge or not, against their romantic partner. Results indicate that the study was successful in causing people to experience an acceptance-threat, but was not successful in getting people to take revenge. This failure was likely due to errors such as a lack of clarity regarding how to take revenge when given the chance, and sampling bias causing an over-representation of individuals very high in self-esteem.