“Hopefully It Drove Him Insane”: 43 Times People Got Petty Instead Of Mad, And It Was Glorious (New Pics)

It's human nature to want to return the favor when someone does something for you. Kindness begets kindness. But meanness can also be like popcorn kernels in the microwave. When someone does something nasty, those on the receiving end might be inspired to pop off with an unkind deed of their own.

“The pull of returning the action performed towards us is so strong because it has been crucial to our evolutionary progress,” explains Danny Greeves, a UK-based physiotherapist and behavioural change coach specializing in resolving resentment.

Greeves adds that revenge and pettiness both trigger the law of obligation, otherwise known as reciprocity: the practice of exchanging things for mutual benefit.

“Reciprocity is one of the universal principles which creates automatic, unconscious responses. It is the principle of mutual exchange,” Greeves says, adding that human beings once relied on other people to assist us through fair exchange so that we could get things done and get our basic needs met.

In the same way we want to return kind favors, so too do some of us want to get back at those who do us wrong.

“It’s our animalistic pride that wants us to be seen and perceived as being right,” the expert explains. “It’s much easier to reply with a petty action to balance the scales than it is to engage in a dialogue and find common ground."

While some see pettiness as a negative trait, others consider it so good that it's almost addictive.

“For those who enjoy the game of competition and ‘one-downing’ others, pettiness can be very rewarding," says California-based clinical psychologist Carla Marie. "The dopamine centers in the brain can register that act of being petty as a rewarding and ‘to-be-repeated’ behavior.”

A writer who goes by the name OxKaiyuu on paragraph.com cleverly describes petty revenge as "the dark chocolate of human emotions – a little bitter, a little sweet, and surprisingly satisfying."

They go on to explain that petty revenge is about restoring a sense of control.

"When someone wrongs us, especially in a seemingly minor way, it can trigger feelings of powerlessness. Revenge, even the petty kind, allows us to reclaim that power," they write, adding that it's not necessarily about causing serious harm; it's about rebalancing the scales.

If it seems you've felt both good and bad all at once after taking revenge on someone, you aren't imagining it.

“As you instigate the retaliation, there’s actually an increase in negative emotions, but as a consolation, you also get an increase in positive emotions at the same time,” explains Dr. David Chester, associate professor of social psychology and director of the Social Psychology and Neuroscience Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University. “You’re feeling upset, but you’re also feeling good, and those feelings are intertwined in this ambivalent kind of state.”

But many experts argue that revenge is merely a temporary fix and can do more damage in the long term.

"If revenge were truly cathartic, we would feel lighter once it was done. Yet what happens instead is a kind of psychological looping. Rather than releasing us from anger, revenge ties us more tightly to it," reads the All About Psychology site.

It goes on to explain that this looping is as a result of something called rumination, which is the mental habit of replaying painful events.

Instead of our act of revenge healing a wound, it often does the opposite.

"Each time we think about the person who hurt us or what we did in return, the emotional wound is reopened," explains the site. "We re-experience the anger, the humiliation, and the sense of injustice that first triggered the desire to retaliate."

In other words, when we take revenge, we give the other person power over us and a permanent role in our mental landscape.

Dr. Chester agrees, saying that because revenge provides us with a dopamine hit, it's often followed by a crash, which can happen within just a few minutes.

“There’s a hangover that kicks in quickly,” he says. “Your nice little buzz or heightened positive affect fades fast, but the negative emotions, which were also heightened when you were hurting the person, will stick around and are quite durable.”

Revenge, like one too many drinks, can leave you feeling worse once the buzz wears off. And that's why experts like Dr. Chester suggest you take a moment to pause the next time you’re tempted to be vengeful.

“While it’s a normal thing to want revenge, it’s not ever a good idea to go about it from a psychological standpoint,” he says. “Taking revenge does not free you from the act that provoked you in the first place. Instead, it actually cements it deeper, leading you to ruminate more about it, and opening you up to more suffering and consequences.”