title: An implausible model and evolutionary explanation of the revenge motive.
abstract: McCullough et al.’s target article is a psychological version of the reputation models pioneered by biologist Robert Trivers (1971) and economist Robert Frank (1988). The authors, like Trivers and Frank, offer an implausible explanation of the fact that revenge is common even when there are no possible reputational effects. I sketch a more plausible model based on recent research.
authors.affiliation: Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, and Department of Economics, Central European University, Nádor utca 9, 1051 Budapest, Hungary. hgintis@comcast.net
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gintis
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D061347:Forgiveness; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation