Normative systems known as honor, face and dignity system may have evolved as cultural adaptations to the survival challenges posed by quite different ecologies. Theory that views culture as situated cognition (Oyserman, 2017) posits that regionally dominant systems provide environmental cues that preferentially elicit normative thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Systems of shared norms help people coordinate actions and manage conflicts within their group. In the United States, successive waves of European colonization established cultural legacies that survive as regional differences, currently reflected in crime statistics and behavioral research. This chapter examines potential mechanisms of high rates of vengeful aggression within honor systems. Individual influences may include emotion socialization, hostile attribution biases, beliefs that behavior is stable, criteria for self-worth, and masculine anxiety. Theory and research indicate that institutional failure to protect and provide justice to all group members creates conditions linked to the contemporary evolution of honor norms in social groups.