ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters, we have seen how revenge fantasies and revenge acts can be explained on the basis of real or perceived violations and our difficulties in handling our strong feelings. We have also seen how our human inclination to adapt ourselves to the group can make otherwise empathetic and well-functioning people commit destructive acts. Added to that, if we happen to live in a totalitarian and violent society or in a society at war, we are even more susceptible to primitive drives, such as revenge mechanisms. Now we swing back to the individual again in order to discuss shame and persecutory guilt as driving forces in the revenge phenomenon.
