To test the hypothesis that Schadenfreude, pleasure at the suffering of others, will result when an envied person experiences a misfortune, envy was created in subjects by asking them to watch a videotaped interview of a student who was made to appear either superior or average. An epilogue informed subjects that the student had suffered a recent setback. The envy created in subjects was found to enhance the likelihood that they would feel Schadenfreude on learning of this setback. In addition, dispositional envy predicted subjects' envy of the student, and this envy also mediated subsequent Schadenfreude. These results strongly support linking envy with Schadenfreude.

Two studies examined factors that predict expatriate managers' tendencies to think seriously about departing prematurely from their international assignments. Previous research (conducted outside of the expatriate context) has shown that individuals' willingness to stay with or leave their positions is an interactive function of outcome favorability and procedural fairness. A conceptually analogous interaction effect was found in the present studies. Whereas expatriates more seriously thought of departing prematurely when they perceived the non-work-related outcomes of their overseas assignments to be less favorable, this tendency was much less pronounced when procedural fairness was relatively high. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as are limitations of the studies and suggestions for future research.

Two studies were performed, the first investigating subjects' attitudes towards participation in experimental research, the second testing a non-deceptive, non-role playing methodology. In Study 1, we asked a sample of 225 college students who might comprise a typical experimental sample for their attitudes towards deception. We found that those who had been previously deceived at least once were more likely to expect future deception than those who had not been deceived. To demonstrate that deception is not always essential, in Study 2 we used a simple non-deceptive parallel to a classic social influence experiment and successfully replicated its findings. These two studies give new empirical weight to the challenge to experimental deception in social psychology.

We examined the perception of envy using an approach patterned after Thibaut & Kelley's (1959) analysis of outcome evaluations. Subjects read scenarios about a hypothetical target person who had experienced an apparent setback. The target person was described as either satisfied or dissatisfied with this outcome by virtue of it either matching or falling short of expectations (comparison level). In addition, the target person was shown to have either enjoyed a recent success or to have suffered a recent failure in an alternative domain. Finally, the target person encountered a comparison person who had either suffered a similar setback or who had experienced a success in the same domain. Subjects rated how envious they would feel if, hypothetically, they were the target person depicted in the story. As predicted, subjects gave more intense ratings of envy in reaction to the advantaged comparison person when the target person was dissatisfied (outcomes below comparison level) compared to when the target person was satisfied (outcomes matching comparison level). Furthermore, subjects expressed more envy when the target person had experienced a failure in an alternative domain compared to when the target person had experienced a success in an alternative domain. Some theoretical implications of the results are discussed. No doubt there are few positions in life that do not throw together some persons who are there by virtue of failure and other persons who are there by virtue of success. In this sense, the dead are sorted but not segregated, and continue to walk among the living. (Goffman, 1952, p. 463)

B y all accounts John was an executive whose star was on the rise. The CFO of a growing global consumer products company, he was described as brilliant, a sure bet to become the next chief operating officer. A financial wizard, he had led the organization through its difficult formative years and helped make it an industry leader. He was assertive, aggressive, smart. He knew the industry. He knew the organization. He knew the executive team. What more could you ask for in a successful COO?A lot more, as it turned out.Within months of John's promotion it was clear something was amiss. Frustration rose. Performance plummeted. John was viewed as rigid and divisive. As one team member noted, he took great delight in "slowly turning his machine gun on different targets in the organization. He was so smart, so detail-oriented, he could nail anyone on anything."