The cognitive consequences of envy: Attention, memory, and self-regulatory depletion.

Abstract

In a series of 4 experiments, we provide evidence that--in addition to having an affective component--envy may also have important consequences for cognitive processing. Our first experiment (N = 69) demonstrated that individuals primed with envy better attended to and more accurately recalled information about fictitious peers than did a control group. Studies 2 (N = 187) and 3 (N = 65) conceptually replicated these results, demonstrating that envy elicited by targets predicts attention and later memory for information about them. We demonstrate that these effects cannot be accounted for by admiration or changes in negative affect or arousal elicited by the targets. Study 4 (N = 152) provides evidence that greater memory for envied--but not neutral--targets leads to diminished perseverance on a difficult anagram task. Findings demonstrate that envy may play an important role in attention and memory systems and deplete limited self-regulatory resources available for acts of volition.

Boosting beauty in an economic decline: Mating, spending, and the lipstick effect.

“…Our findings on how economic recessions influence psychology and behavior add to a growing literature on evolution and cognition (e.g., Ackerman et al, 2006;Hill, DelPriore, & Vaughan, 2011;Kenrick, Griskevicius, Neuberg, & Schaller, 2010;Miller & Maner, 2010;Navarrate et al, 2009;Roney, 2003) and evolution and behavior (e.g., Ermer, Cosmides, & Tooby, 2008;Griskevicius, Cialdini, & Kenrick, 2006;Ronay & Figure 6. The effect of economic recession cues on women's interest in purchasing mating-related products as a function of desire to attract a mate (Study 5).…”

The affective antecedents of cognitive social network activation

“…Further, the experience of envy has been shown to drain people's attention such that individuals devote more cognitive resources toward the target of envy (Hill et al, 2011). Therefore, we expect that feelings of envy will lead to a narrowing effect, focusing the actor's cognitive networks around the source of envy to the neglect of other possible network ties.…”

Effects of resource divisibility and expectations of sharing on envy

“…Although the adaptive functions of emotions have been a focus for many years (e.g., Tooby and Cosmides 1990), relatively little attention has been given to the emotion of envy (but see Hill and Buss 2006;Hill et al 2011). As a social species, it has always been important to maximize one's relative share of resources through one means or another.…”

“…Which adaptive problems might envy help address? Throughout human evolutionary history and continuing to this day, it has been important not only to acquire valuable resources necessary for survival and reproduction, but also to maximize one's resources relative to local competitors (Evans 2001;Hill and Buss 2006;Hill et al 2011;Smith 2013). Envy may have the function of leading individuals to acquire such resources (Hill and Buss 2008).…”