title: Vicarious revenge and the death of Osama bin Laden.
abstract: Three hypotheses were derived from research on vicarious revenge and tested in the context of the assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011. In line with the notion that revenge aims at delivering a message (the "message hypothesis"), Study 1 shows that Americans' vengeful desires in the aftermath of 9/11 predicted a sense of justice achieved after bin Laden's death, and that this effect was mediated by perceptions that his assassination sent a message to the perpetrators to not "mess" with the United States. In line with the "blood lust hypothesis," his assassination also sparked a desire to take further revenge and to continue the "war on terror." Finally, in line with the "intent hypothesis," Study 2 shows that Americans (but not Pakistanis or Germans) considered the fact that bin Laden was killed intentionally more satisfactory than the possibility of bin Laden being killed accidentally (e.g., in an airplane crash).
authors.affiliation: 1Philipps University Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gollwitzer
authors.forename: Linda J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Skitka
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wisneski
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sjöström
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liberman
authors.forename: Syed Javed
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Nazir
authors.forename: Brad J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bushman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D057237:Criminals; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012935:Social Justice / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D023481:Terrorism; D014481:United States
keywords: justice; psychological closure; revenge; vicarious retribution; war on terror