Sung Hee Kim
I did graduate work at Seoul National University in South Korea and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and then moved to Tufts University, where I received my Ph.D. in 1991. My research interests include social conflict, justice, and group processes.
One of my recent lines of work concerns the role of vengeful urges in the escalation of conflict. I am working on a series of studies designed to show that revenge can often function as a means of restoring a lowered self-esteem caused by unjust harm. Another line of work involves exploring how the act of revenge affects various psychological domains such as self-esteem, depression, and a sense of injustice. This research project also examines the relation among revenge, apology, and forgiveness. A third project concerns the role of third parties in social dilemmas. For example, a recent study that a student, Ashley Johnson, and I have done shows that participants in a given social dilemma are more likely to cooperate when they realize that their noncooperation benefits their mutual enemy.
Primary Interests:
- Aggression, Conflict, Peace
- Group Processes
- Interpersonal Processes
- Self and Identity
Books:
Journal Articles:
- Hilton, D. J., Smith, R. H., & Kim, S. H. (1995). The processes of dispositional and causal explanation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 377-387.
- Kim, S. H., & Smith, R. H. (1993). Revenge and conflict escalation. Negotiation Journal, 9, 37-43.
- Kim, S. H., Smith, R. H., & Brigham, N. (in press). The effects of power imbalance and presence of third parties on upward and downward revenge. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
- Smith, R. H., & Kim, S. H. (2007). Comprehending envy. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 46-64.
- Smith, R. J., Eyre, H. L., Powell, C. A. J., & Kim, S. H. (2006). Relativistic origins of emotional reactions to events happening to others and ourselves. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 357-371.
Other Publications:
- Kim, S. H. (2005). The role of vengeance in conflict escalation. In Zartman, I. W., & G. O. Faure (Eds.), Escalation and negotiation in international conflicts (pp. 141-162). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sung Hee Kim
Department of Psychology
021-J Kastle Hall
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0044
United States of America
- Phone: (859) 257-4643