Impact of responsibility for a misfortune on schadenfreude and sympathy: further evidence.
The authors tested the hypothesis that the more individuals are responsible for their own misfortune, the more schadenfreude (i.e., pleasure derived from another's misfortune) and less sympathy the misfortune evokes in others. The results support the hypothesis, thereby providing further evidence for the role responsibility plays in emotional reactions to the misfortunes of others.
van Dijk
Wilco W
WW
Department of Social Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ww.van.dijk@psy.vu.nl
Goslinga
Sjoerd
S
Ouwerkerk
Jaap W
JW
D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009426:Netherlands; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D012944:Social Support