Revealing Communicative Meaning in Revenge Behavior: An Application of Heatmap Data Visualization to the Doll Aggression Task

ABSTRACT

Recent research conceptualizes revenge as a communicative activity designed to send messages to targets, but few methods exist for researchers to draw inferences about the message properties and meanings that perpetrators wish to impart in their revenge messages. In this essay, we demonstrate how the Doll Aggression Task (DAT) can be paired with heatmap data visualization to address this challenge and help researchers draw conclusions about the communicative dimensions of revenge behavior. Using illustrative data from a study of revenge in romantic relationships, we spotlight novel insights into the communication of revenge that can be gleaned from the application of heatmap visualizations to the DAT.