title: When people fall from grace: reconsidering the role of envy in Schadenfreude.
abstract: Previous research yielded conflicting results concerning the role of envy in predicting Schadenfreude (pleasure at another's misfortune). Some studies showed that envy predicts Schadenfreude, whereas others did not. Results of the present research reconcile these opposing findings, by showing that envy is a predictor of Schadenfreude when the target is similar to the observer in terms of gender. These results suggest that envy predicts Schadenfreude when people are confronted with the misfortune of a relevant social comparison other.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands. ww.van.dijk@psy.vu.nl
authors.forename: Wilco W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: Jaap W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Ouwerkerk
authors.forename: Sjoerd
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goslinga
authors.forename: Myrke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nieweg
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallucci
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior