Michael McCullough on the Situation of Revenge and Forgiveness
Posted by The Situationist Staff on April 6, 2010
From TempletonFoundation:
Why is revenge such a pervasive and destructive problem? Why is forgiveness so difficult? In “Beyond Revenge,” Michael E. McCullough argues that the key to creating a more forgiving world is to understand both the evolutionary forces that gave rise to these intimately human instincts and the social forces that activate them in our minds today. Drawing on the latest breakthroughs in the social and biological sciences, McCullough offers practical and often surprising advice for how individuals, social groups, and even nations might move beyond our deep penchant for revenge.
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To read a sample of related Situationist posts, see “The Situation of Punishment (and Forgiveness),” “The Situation of Revenge,” “The Situation of Punishment,” and “Why We Punish.”
The Situationist 
Intuitions of Punishment? « The Situationist said
[…] can download the article for free here. For a sample of related Situationist posts, see “Michael McCullough on the Situation of Revenge and Forgiveness,” “Steven Pinker Speaks at Harvard Law School,” “John Darley on “Justice […]
Laurie Santos on the Evolutionary Situation of Cognitive Biases « The Situationist said
[…] a sample of related Situationist posts, see “Michael McCullough on the Situation of Revenge and Forgiveness,” “New Study Looks at the Roots of Empathy,” “The Endowment Effect in Chimpanzees […]
The Doormat Problem « Lukas Neville said
[…] revenge can be adaptive, too: It’s a way of enforcing social norms and deterring future […]