Envy, Resentment, Schadenfreude, and Sympathy: Reactions to Deserved and Undeserved Achievement and Subsequent Failure

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that schadenfreude (or pleasure in another's misfortune) would be more closely related to resentment and a wish to correct a perceived injustice than to envy, and that sympathy would involve different processes. Participants were 184 undergraduates who responded to scenarios in which a student with a record of either high or average achievement that followed high or low effort subsequently suffered failure under conditions where there was either high or low personal control. Results showed that resentment about the student's prior achievement could be distinguished from envy. Schadenfreude about the student's subsequent failure was predicted by resentment and not by envy. Sympathy was not predicted by either resentment or envy. Deservingness was a key variable in the models that were tested.