PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Previous studies have investigated whether envy, particularly malicious envy, increases feelings of schadenfreude and whether this effect is evident in both gain and loss frames. However, as a social-comparison-based emotion, schadenfreude was not investigated through social comparisons in these previous studies. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate whether malicious envy influences schadenfreude when schadenfreude is elicited in the context of precise and ambiguous social comparisons. To address this issue, participants in the present study were asked to play a monetary game with several other players. In the experimental condition, participants gained less or lost more than the other player; in the control condition, both the participants and the player gained little or lost much. Subsequently, the participants observed that the player encountered a misfortune, that is, gained less or lost more money than the participant. The results showed that when participants knew the exact amount of monetary gained and lost by themselves and the other player (i.e., precise social comparisons), malicious envy increased feelings of schadenfreude only in the loss frame rather than in the gain frame. More importantly, malicious envy turned out to reduce feelings of schadenfreude in both gain and loss frames, when participants did not know the exact amount (i.e., ambiguous social comparisons). The findings provide novel evidence that malicious envy does not always increase schadenfreude particularly when schadenfreude is elicited through social comparisons.
摘要：
以前的研究调查过是否嫉妒，尤其是恶意嫉妒，增加幸灾乐祸的感觉，以及这种影响在得失框架中是否明显。然而,作为一种基于社会比较的情感，在这些先前的研究中，幸灾乐祸没有通过社会比较进行调查。因此，本研究旨在调查在精确和模棱两可的社会比较中引发幸灾乐祸时，恶意嫉妒是否会影响幸灾乐祸。为了解决这个问题，本研究的参与者被要求与其他几个参与者玩货币游戏。在实验条件下,参与者比其他参与者获得或损失更多；在控制条件下，参与者和玩家都获得了很少或失去了很多。随后，参与者观察到玩家遇到了不幸，也就是说,比参与者获得更少或损失更多的钱。结果表明，当参与者知道自己和其他参与者获得和损失的确切金额时（即，精确的社会比较)，恶意嫉妒只会在损失框架而不是在收益框架中增加幸灾乐祸的感觉。更重要的是,恶意嫉妒最终减少了得失框架中幸灾乐祸的感觉，当参与者不知道确切的金额时(即，模棱两可的社会比较)。这些发现提供了新的证据，表明恶意嫉妒并不总是增加幸灾乐祸，特别是当通过社会比较引起幸灾乐祸时。
