The painful duality of envy: Evidence for an integrative theory and a meta-analysis on the relation of envy and schadenfreude.

Abstract

Despite envy's importance as a driver of social behavior, scholars disagree on its conceptualization. We review the literature and distinguish three incongruent theories: (a) Malicious Envy Theory (i.e., envy as uniform and malicious), (b) Dual Envy Theory (i.e., envy as taking on 2 forms, benign and malicious), and (c) Pain Theory of Envy (i.e., envy as uniform and driven by pain). Moreover, within and across theories, operationalizations of envy have included various different components. We integrate these conceptualizations using a data-driven approach, deriving a comprehensive theory of envy in 5 studies (total N = 1,237)-the Pain-driven Dual Envy (PaDE) Theory. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of an exhaustive set of envy components (Studies 1-4) suggest that envy consists of 3 factors: Pain (i.e., preoccupation with the envy-eliciting situation, inferiority), predicts both benign envy (i.e., desire for the envy object, improvement motivation, emulation of the other), and malicious envy (i.e., communication about the other, directed aggression, nondirected aggression). An experience-sampling study (Study 5) suggests that pain constitutes a quickly fading reaction, whereas benign and malicious envy are enduring attitudinal constructs. We apply this theory in a meta-analysis on the controversial relation of envy and schadenfreude (N = 4,366), finding that envy and schadenfreude are more strongly and positively correlated to the extent that the respective research operationalizes envy as malicious, compared with as pain or benign envy. We discuss how the PaDE Theory can illuminate research on envy in diverse settings, and envy's relation to other distinct emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record

Social comparison and perceived envy‐motivated communication involving travel nurses: A qualitative study

“…Permanent nurses may help temporary nurses to get oriented because ‘they're obviously more familiar with the policies … [but] there's also pride in [permanent] nurses because it's their environment (Robert)’. Although benign envy can evoke painful feelings (Lange, Weidman, et al, ), individuals who experience benign envy can still extend help and support to envied individuals as prosocial behaviour (Cohen‐Charash & Larson, ; Lange & Crusius, ; Puranik et al, ; Van de Ven et al, ). Thus, the presence of prosocial behaviour does not necessarily indicate the absence of envious sentiments.…”

“…Social comparison can result in various emotions such as envy (Lange & Crusius, 2015), which has two dominant subtypes (Cohen-Charash & Larson, 2017;Lange, Weidman, & Crusius, 2018). Malicious envy transpires when envious individuals denigrate or undermine envied individuals (Lange, Weidman, et al, 2018;Puranik, Koopman, Vough, & Gamache, 2019); those passive-aggressive behaviours include feigning helplessness and obstructing progress (Ferrara-Love, 1998). Envious individuals might spread rumours or withhold information so that they alleviate their sense of inferiority while undermining envied individuals (Reh, Tröster, & Van Quaquebeke, 2018) to make envied individuals less successful (Puranik et al, 2019).…”

Dispositional Greed Predicts Benign and Malicious Envy

“…Mounting evidence supports that as state and as a trait, envy occurs in two qualitatively different forms (Crusius, Gonzalez, Lange, & Cohen-Charash, 2020;Falcon, 2015;Lange, Blatz, & Crusius, 2018;Lange, Weidman, & Crusius, 2018;Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2009): benign envy and malicious envy. Benign and malicious envy share a painful feeling of inferiority but involve different motivational tendencies.…”

“…Benign and malicious envy share a painful feeling of inferiority but involve different motivational tendencies. Benign envy entails motivation to emulate superior others as well as to self-improve and malicious envy entails hostility and the motivation to harm superior others (Lange, Weidman, et al, 2018). Based on a functional account of envy, Van de Ven et al (2009;also see Crusius & Lange, 2017) have argued that both forms of envy represent different emotional pathways in responding to a threatened self: benign envy may serve to level oneself up, whereas malicious envy may serve to level others down.…”

A Schadenfreude Inducing Misfortune Reduces Envy

“…If this person then suffers a misfortune, the positive feeling of schadenfreude signals to us that the balance is restored and the world is again closer to as we would want it to be. Envy is the frustrating feeling that someone else is better off than we are (Smith & Kim, 2007;Van de Ven, 2016;Lange, Weidman, & Crusius, 2018). As envy arises over a specific form of an imbalance (the other having something that we want or do not want him/her to have, Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2009), a misfortune happening to them might help to restore some of that balance.…”