Previous research has shown that when a harm-doer is faced with the suffering of his victim he will attempt to eliminate the inequity he has created by compensating the victim. When this is not possible, he will restore psychological equity by justifying the victim's suffering. It was suggested that equity can be restored by still another method: the victim can get even with the harm-doer by retaliating against him. It was proposed that when compensation is impossible, a harm-doer will derogate a victim who is powerless to retaliate but will not derogate a victim from whom he anticipates retaliation. 5s who had not harmed the victim were not expected to respond in the same way. This hypothesis was confirmed.
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Berscheid et al. (1968) studied this question.