Rudeness may be rewarded - as a response to rudeness | Cornell Chronicle

""People prefer retaliatory incivility to an instigator's incivility, seeing it as more right, just and moral. Although the degree of incivility is the same, we theorize that, in retaliation, it's seen as helping to protect a group's norms and establish to the instigator that they did something wrong.""

""Research on incivility has found that it activates a cycle in which targets tend to retaliate, behavior celebrated in popular slang such as 'clapping back' or 'reading for filth.' But scholarship has focused on the cycle's initiation and its consequences, overlooking how incivility might be perceived differently at later stages.""

Research indicates that retaliatory incivility is often perceived more favorably than instigated incivility across various contexts, including workplaces and sports. While civil responses are ideal, retaliatory actions can be seen as just and moral, helping to uphold group norms. The study emphasizes the complexity of incivility, suggesting that responses to disrespectful behavior may not always be negative. This research shifts the focus from merely condemning incivility to understanding its social implications and perceptions in different scenarios.

Read at Cornell Chronicle