Paths of Glory: When Do People Gain Social Status for Intergroup Revenge or Forgiveness?

Conflict plays an important role in shaping social status in groups. Responding to calls for greater research on factors that shape group status hierarchies, we suggest that intergroup conflict provides opportunities for individuals to gain or lose status by demonstrating their value or commitment to the group. Using two behavioral experiments, we examine whether individuals gain status by engaging in either intergroup revenge or forgiveness in response to an act of outgroup antagonism and by presenting their behaviors as group-motivated (Study 1). We then ask whether observing group members receiving status for intergroup revenge or forgiveness encourages these behaviors (Study 2). Participants rewarded vengeful rather than forgiving behavior with status and encouraged vengeful behavior using chat messages. They did not, however, view avengers as more status-worthy in general or view claims of group motivation alone as status-worthy, independently of behavior. Observing others receiving status rewards for forgiveness was associated with increased intergroup forgiveness relative to revenge, but only when the outgroup initiated the conflict. Broadly, the results speak to research on conflict, altruism, group cohesion, and social status. Understanding how group processes encourage or discourage conflict is important because conflict spreads through networks via cycles of retaliation and counterretaliation.