This phenomenon is called “generalized negative reciprocity” because it involves “pay back” with unfair behavior inflicted upon a person who is uninvolved with the original interaction. The original perpetrator may not get this “pay back” because of fear of additional retaliation or other negative consequences.

A team of researchers at the University of Bonn discovered that one way to break this chain, regulate emotions and reassess the situation is by writing a message to the perpetrator. This suggestion comes as the result of an experiment involving 237 subjects playing the “dictator game.”

• Some participants played the role of the dictators. They decided whether to share some money fairly with another participant or keep most of it.
• 83% percent chose to keep most of the money for themselves.
• The other players could do nothing about it and had to accept the dictator’s decisions.
• This situation caused the short changed players to behave unfairly towards others in turn as an outlet for negative emotions.
• To disrupt this process three approaches were tried: a three-minute break to try to create some emotional detachment, participants were asked to describe a neutral picture in order to distract themselves and the affected persons complained about the unfair treatment in a written message to the “dictator.”
• The written complaint was the most effective way to control negative emotions even when the message was never actually sent. The subjects’ emotions were much more calm after writing the message and they behaved more fairly towards others.

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