Letting off Steam! Experimental Evidence on Displaced Aggression

Elina Wiederhold and Christoph Bühren

Review of Behavioral Economics, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Aggression is displaced when provocations cannot be directly retaliated against and when it is redirected towards a target innocent of any wrongdoing. We term the latter behavior inappropriate punishment. Although it is a widespread issue, experimental economics has widely ignored it. We fill this gap and find that one-third of unfairly treated subjects punish co-players who are not responsible for the unfairness. Students affiliated with an armed forces university seem to be more likely to engage in this type of punishment behavior than non-soldier students.

Date: 2025
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