Envy and Environmental Decision Making: The Mediating Role of Self-Control

Emotions have strong impacts on decision making, yet research on the association between social interpersonal emotion and environmental decisions is limited. The present study uses experimental manipulation and cross-sectional investigation to examine how envy state and personality trait envy influence environmental actions. In Study 1, participants were manipulated to elicit benign and malicious envy, and it was found that benign envy acts as an antecedent of pro-environmental behavior, while malicious envy could contribute to behavior harmful to the environment. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 and examined the mediator of self-control through a correlational study. Consequently, people who are high in malicious envy tend to engage in more environmentally harmful activities rather than living a sustainable life, while dispositional benign envy could significantly predict pro-environmental behavior. Moreover, the link between dispositional malicious envy and environmental behavior can be explained by trait self-control, while the mediating effect was silent in dispositional benign envy. The findings shed new light on the impact of social interpersonal emotion on making environmental decisions and its related psychological mechanisms.

A Cross-Cultural Study on the Effects of Envy-Evoking Ads

Ads often feature celebrities or others similar to the target viewer and thereby evoke envy. Envy occurs when people make an upward social comparison, and evoked envy can be either benign or malicious. The authors propose that people with different self-construals feel different degrees of benign and malicious envy depending on who is being envied: a celebrity or a similar other. Three studies were conducted comparing Americans to Koreans (Study 1), Americans to the Chinese (Study 2), and Koreans with different self-construals (Study 3). The results showed that people with high independence showed less benign envy toward the celebrity ad than toward the similar others ad, while people with low independence showed the opposite pattern. People with high interdependence showed less malicious envy toward the celebrity ad than toward the similar others ad, while people with low interdependence showed the opposite pattern.

The Effect of Malicious Envy on Schadenfreude When Schadenfreude Is Elicited Through Social Comparisons

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.

How Envy and Being Envied Shape Social Hierarchies

When people interact with each other, they form social hierarchies. Being higher up in a hierarchy has numerous benefits. Consequently, when people believe that their rank is threatened, they should react strongly to address this threat. We propose that the emotion envy is such a reaction, regulating social hierarchies in two ways. First, persons’ socially-valued successes elicit envy in inferior persons. Second, inferior persons’ envy in turn elicits emotional reactions in successful persons. Envying and being envied thus occur in a dynamic relationship. We argue that the complexities of this dynamic can be unraveled by considering that (a) social hierarchies form in different ways, (b) emotions are multifaceted experiences whose facets are accentuated by relevant situations, and c) people may or may not overtly express these emotions. We review evidence for a broad framework that considers these points. According to this framework, persons can express their socially-valued successes with authentic or with hubristic pride. Authentic pride signals to others that the success is based on a prestige strategy. In response, inferior persons may perceive personal control to change their situation. This elicits benign envy, involving cognitions and motivations aimed at improving their position. If enviers express benign envy, envied persons are more likely to approach them. Hubristic pride instead signals that the success is based on a dominance strategy. In response, inferior persons may perceive superior persons’ advantages as undeserved. This elicits malicious envy, involving cognitions and motivations directed at harming the superior persons’ positions. If enviers express malicious envy, envied persons are more likely to avoid them. The framework integrates diverse empirical findings on the socially-functional value of envy in regulating social hierarchies and provides avenues for future research.

How Does Individual-Level Envy Affect Team Creativity? Effects of Knowledge Seeking and Moral Reflection

Where there is a team, there is envy emotion among team members. Prior studies argue that two opposite types of envy—benign envy and malicious envy differently influence team members’ interactions, thus impact team creativity differently. However, little literature has discussed whether envy has a direct influence on team creativity. This research is conducted to narrow this literature gap. Moreover, if their relationship was verified, the mechanism needs to be further explored. Previous studies have shown negative public perception of envy and strong behavioral motivation function of it. Therefore, a morality-related variable—moral reflection, and a competition-related variable—knowledge seeking are introduced as mediating variables. To test the relationships among the above variables, an experiment with 74 MBA students’ participation was conducted. The results show the positive relationship between benign envy and team creativity, while malicious envy gets the opposite result. Besides, knowledge seeking and moral reflection are proven to be bridges connecting envy and team creativity. Envy is more complicated than what previous studies have found. It has positive sides to team creativity.

"You're just envious": Inferring benign and malicious envy from facial expressions and contextual information

Envy shapes social hierarchies. To protect their rank, envied persons react to the threat posed by enviers. Doing so requires that envied persons initially perceive who envies them. However, a common perspective is that envy lacks a unique expression and that enviers disguise their experience, preventing the social perception of envy. In contrast to this perspective, recent evidence indicates that observers perceive benign and malicious forms of envy accurately when they can integrate information about targets. These findings suggest that observers infer envy based on multiple, contextual cues. We hypothesized that observers infer envy from facial and bodily expressions in comparison situations. Specifically, observers should infer benign envy when a target, who encounters an advantaged person, turns with disappointment toward the advantage. Conversely, observers should infer malicious envy when the target turns with anger toward the advantaged person. Three preregistered studies tested these hypotheses (total N = 693). In Studies 1 and 2, targets turned with an emotional or neutral expression either toward a person silhouette or a valuable object, and participants rated targets’ envy. In Study 3, participants performed the same task with more realistic stimuli. Across studies, emotional display and head turning had independent effects on inferences of benign and malicious envy. Furthermore, observers inferred envy more when the target expressed an emotion instead of remaining neutral. We discuss how the results inform research on the social perception of envy.

Effects of luxury brand attachment and perceived envy on schadenfreude: does need for uniqueness moderate?

Purpose This study aims to investigate how luxury brand attachment (LBA) and perceived envy may influence schadenfreude. In addition, the moderating influence of consumers’ need for uniqueness (CNFU) and private vs public consumption is examined. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a consumer panel in Australia. A total of 365 valid and useable responses were analysed through structural equation modelling in AMOS 26. Findings The results show that LBA has a significant impact on perceived envy. Consumers’ perceived envy also results in schadenfreude. However, LBA did not have any significant impact on schadenfreude. The moderating influence of CNFU is partially supported. This research further confirms that consumers’ public consumption has more relevance to visible social comparison and potential feelings of malicious envy towards others. Practical implications The research model may work as a strategic tool to identify, which group of consumers (e.g. high vs low attachment) displays stronger envy and schadenfreude. Brand managers can also explore the personality traits and psychological dynamics that influence the consumers to express emotional bonds and malicious joy within the context of consumer-brand relationships. Originality/value This is one of the first few studies that have examined the relationships amongst consumers’ brand attachment, perceived envy, schadenfreude and need for uniqueness within a luxury branding context.