Spite and Malace

My AP Psychology classmates! Oh, how I've missed you all! Hope everything is faring you well back in Memphis,TN. Now, I know you have been missing reading my blogs so dearly, so I won't waste any more time with chit-chat. 

Spite. That word carries with it a very negative connotation.  You wouldn't necessarily want one of your parents to tell you you're "doing something out of spite," especially because the next thing they'd tell you would be- "Don't do that!" Spite is the urge to punish, hurt, humiliate or harass another, even when one gains no obvious benefit and may well pay a cost. Before you read: What are your feelings about spite? Have you ever experienced it? Do you believe it to be petty, or a natural human inclination? Click here to read Natalie Angier's "Spite Is Good. Spite Works" to find out what scientists have to say about spite, then come back here for we shall discuss!                                                                                                                            

It's interesting to note that the study of spite has been pretty much neglected in the scientific community until recently. Pretty odd, don't ya think, considering how many people experience it at one point or another? Currently, psychologists are studying spite as a negative trait. Evolutionary theorists, on the other hand, are doing what evolutionary theorists usually do, and are studying the role that spite may have played in the origin or admirable traits (eg: cooperative spirit, sense of fair play). In the past months, David K. Marcus, a psychologist at Washington State University, and his colleagues have presented the preliminary results from their new "spitefulness scale". Let's give it a try. How closely do you agree with the following statements:

If my neighbor complained about the appearance of my front yard,  I would be tempted to make it look worse just to annoy him or her.

If I opposed the election of an official, I would happily see the person fail even if the failure hurt my community.

I would be willing to take a punch if it meant someone I did not like would receive two punches.

If you don't feel comfortable responding you don't have to, but did you agree with any of the statement above? Would you consider it but not go through with it?

According to their research thusfar, men are more spiteful than women and young adults are more spiteful than older ones. Spitefulness generally cohabited (but remember- correlation doesn't imply causation!) with traits like callousness and poor self-esteem. Partisan politics can provoke spiteful outbursts from otherwise temperate people. For those political animals out there- do you ever have spiteful feelings toward a politician you dislike? 

Some research finds that the presence of spiteful people keeps others in check. This "altruistic punishment"-the willingness of some individuals to punish rule breakers even when the infraction doesn't directly affect them- is necessary to human decency. What do you think about altruistic punishment? Do we have the right to punish people for doing what we deem is wrong? Then again, should their bad deed go unpunished? Is there any way that spite could be a gateway to fair punishment? 

One last fun fact to note: the people who are most vocal against others using performance-enhancing drugs are usually the ones who are using them. Surprising? Spiteful? Why?