The Development and Validation of the Trait and State Vindicated Anger and Revenge Scale

Vindication is a common cognition in anger episodes but has largely been ignored in research. Specifically, vindicated anger is anger coupled with the belief that one is entitled and justified to feel angry. Most of the anger measures do not currently assess revenge in the context of anger, which is an oversight given that anger is the most prevalent emotion in revenge episodes and a common outcome of anger episodes. It is also believed that thoughts of vindication are present when anger leads to revenge. Drawing on Lazarus’s cognitive appraisal theory and the anger models of Ellis and Lange, we developed the Vindicated Anger and Revenge Scale (VARS) to assess both trait and state levels of vindicated anger and revenge motivation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and convergent and discriminant validity were established. Additionally, the Vindicated Anger and Revenge Scale also demonstrated predictive validity of aggressive behavior. Implications are discussed, including its usefulness in forensic settings.