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Dispositional vengeance and anger on schadenfreude.
1Faculty of Education, Utsunomiya University, 350 Minemachi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 321-8505 Japan. sawada@masa.to
Psychological Reports
|October 11, 2012
Summary
This study reveals that envy and dispositional vengeance significantly predict schadenfreude, the pleasure derived from another
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Schadenfreude, the experience of pleasure from another's misfortune, is a complex emotion.
- Understanding its elicitation is crucial for social and personality psychology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model the elicitation of schadenfreude.
- To investigate the roles of vengeance, envy, and trait anger in schadenfreude.
Main Methods:
- Developed and validated a Japanese version of the Vengeance Scale.
- Utilized structural equation modeling to analyze questionnaire data from 523 Japanese undergraduates.
- Assessed dispositional vengeance, trait anger, empathy, envy, and schadenfreude through scenarios and self-report measures.
Main Results:
- Envy and dispositional vengeance were significant predictors of schadenfreude.
- No significant gender differences were found in the overall relationship between these variables and schadenfreude.
- Vengeance showed an association with envy specifically among women.
Conclusions:
- Envy and dispositional vengeance are key components in the experience of schadenfreude.
- The findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of schadenfreude's predictors.
- Highlights potential gender-specific pathways in the envy-vengeance relationship.
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