48 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATEDFAMILIES
Is revenge really sweet?
Brain scans of test subjects show that revenge causes satisfaction
in the offended person, if the revenge is concrete.I
n Game of Thrones, Arya Stark chants the
names of her enemies every night, until she
has killed them one by one. Swiss scientists have
scanned test subjects’ brains by means of
positron emission tomography to see how the
brain reacts in a situation, in which one personcan punish another one, who has cheated in
money matters. The scientists measured the
activity in the caudate nucleus area (a part of the
brain’s reward system). The data showed that
people feel satisfied, when they punish others,
who have deliberately broken an agreement.2If B trusts A and gives his
fictive money to him, the
amount is quadrupled to 40, so
A has 50 and B has 0.3If A keeps the money,
B can give him symbolic
or concrete punishment in the
shape of penalty points, etc.REVENGE CAN BE
MEASURED IN BRAIN
In an experiment,
scientists measured the
activity in the caudatenucleus
area, which is part of the
brain’s reward system that
triggers a sense of happiness.4The activity in the brain's
reward system was the
highest, when the offended person
could give concrete punishment.1Two people, A and B, are
given the same fictive
amount (10). B can either keep
his money or give it to A.REVENGE MAKES THE VICTIM FEEL BETTER
AAABB BREVENGE IS
LOCATED HEREIn Game of Thrones, nine Great Houses fight for
the Iron Throne and so the power over the Seven
Kingdoms of the Westeros continent. At the beginning
of the series, Robert Baratheon reigns. He is married
to Cersei Lannister, and his close ally is the head of
the Stark family, Ned Stark.According to brain
scans, revenge is
actually sweet.QUERVAIN ET AL./UNI. OF ZÜRICHCLAUS LUNAUHBO NORDICSTARK
RICKON
STARKARYA
STARKRICKARD UKENDT
STARKEDDARD
STARKCATELYN
TULLYBENJEN
STARKJON
SNOWROBB
STARKSANSA
STARKBRANDON
STARKGUIDE GAME OF THRONES