PSY234 Essay: Schadenfreude and Psychological Approaches

This essay delves into the psychological concept of Schadenfreude, the experience of pleasure derived from another's misfortune. It critically evaluates three key psychological approaches: social justice, self-evaluation, and social identity. The essay explores the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, drawing on relevant empirical research to analyze how these perspectives explain the complex emotion. The analysis considers how Schadenfreude can reflect concerns for social justice, such as satisfaction from seeing corrupt individuals punished, as well as the role of envy and self-evaluation in intensifying or attenuating the emotion. Furthermore, the essay examines how social identity and intergroup rivalry contribute to feelings of Schadenfreude. Finally, the essay concludes by discussing potential future research directions, including the impact of responsibility, scenario-based approaches, and the relevance of Schadenfreude in political contexts.

Running head: SCHADENFREUDE
Schadenfreude
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Schadenfreude refers to experience of pleasure or the self-satisfaction that an
individual feels on account of learning or seeing the humiliation of other people. It can be
stated to be a complex emotion in which instead of feeling sympathy at the misfortune of
other people an individual feels pleasure (Leach et al., 2003). The emotion of Schadenfreude
can be found to be more in the children as compared to the adults. The adults also undergo
Schadenfreude but they conceal the expressions. This essay throws light on the strengths
along with the weakness in relation to the psychological approach of social justice, social
identity along with the self-evaluation. The essay also discusses about the future direction
pertaining to the curious emotion of Schadenfreude.
Schadenfreude can be perceived as a malicious element however it is instrumental in
serving the motivational functions. The people derive satisfaction when they see corrupt
people getting the punishment. The strength of Schadenfreude lies in the fact that it can help
in providing a window with the help of which an individual can see darker side of the
humanity. It can be said that dehumanization forms crux of the concept of Schadenfreude.
The dehumanization that an evil person has to face can help in acting as a positive force
within the framework of the society. Dehumanization can be situational and this can cause an
individual to experience extreme kinds of emotions (Van Dijk et al., 2011). The positive side
of Schadenfreude lies in the fact that it helps in pointing to the ingrained concerns that can
help a person in understanding oneself in a better manner. The weakness of the concept of
Schadenfreude pertaining to social justice lies in the fact that it can be said to overlap with
darker personality traits like sadism, narcissism along with the psychopathy. These are the
malevolent traits that can arise on account of Schadenfreude that can be stated to be
contradicting the aspect of the social justice. It has been understood with the help of research
that the ordinary people lose the empathy in the event of feeling Schadenfreude (van de Ven
et al., 2015).

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The envy theory lays stress on the aspect of self-evaluation that brings out the fact
that the painful feelings are reduced in the event of an individual seeing the other people
being struck down from their position. It has been found that Schadenfreude are intensified in
the event of the people being threatened in self-worth. Research has brought out the fact that
Schadenfreude is attenuated in the event of self-evaluation being boosted for an individual.
The strength of self-evaluation resides in the fact that it can help an individual in evaluating
himself in a positive manner. The social- identity theory points out to the fact that self-
concept of an individual arises from knowledge that they are a part of certain groups (Li et
al., 2017). The strength of the self-evaluation resides in the fact that it can help a person in
striving for that of positive collective self-evaluation. The strength of self-evaluation can be
said to be owing to the fact that it helps an individual in drawing the social comparisons that
can help in boosting the self-confidence of a person. It can help in the formation of a social
identity that can enhance the self-worth of a person. The people feels pleasure as the
misfortunes provide them opportunities that can help them in getting the uplifting comparison
benefits. The persons who are low in that of self-esteem has greater motivation pertaining to
self-enhancement (Smith & Van Dijk, 2018). It has been found with the help of research
that self-evaluation of that of low-esteem individuals can become positive in the event of
being exposed to that of downward comparison information. The weakness of self-evaluation
exist as the unfavourable comparisons can threaten the perception of an individual pertaining
to the personal self-evaluation. The upward social comparison can elicit the painful feelings
pertaining to envy for a person. An individual feel envy in the event of being aware of the
feeling that they are superior to the other people. The motivation to self-enhancement can be
said to be stronger for a person who feels jealous about another individual (Ouwerkerk et al.,
2018). The misfortunes that are suffered by the rival can evoke Schadenfreude as these helps

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in providing the social comparison benefits. The self-evaluation of a person can be enhanced
in the event of an individual comparing himself with that of a less fortunate person.
An individual establishes the social identity in the event of comparing himself with
the other people in the society. An individual feels satisfaction when the rival football team
losses that is an essential facet of Schadenfreude. The intergroup rivalry that a person feels
gives rise to such kind of negative emotions for a person. The strength of psychological
approach of that of social identity lies in the fact that it can help a person in feeling secure
about my ideology and feelings. It can give rise to the feeling of the self-sufficiency for a
person that can help in encouraging a person so that they can reach their goal (Lange,
Weidman & Crusius, 2018). The negative attribute of social identity lies in the fact that the
comparison with the other people can cause an individual to feel discouragement that can
have an effect on the performance of a person. It can cause an individual to involve himself in
unfavourable comparisons that can harm the aspect of growth of a person. The negative
reaction of the in-groups are constrained by the conditions that make it look illegitimate for a
person. The low status groups have the habit of devaluing the high status groups who enjoys
the socially legitimated superiority (Cikara, 2015). The low status groups can help in
confirming “reality” of the legitimate superiority of that of high status group. The weakness
of psychological approach of that of self-identity resides in the fact that it can be said to be
less legitimate in the event of responding to misfortune of that of the legitimately superior out
group (Schindler et al., 2015).
The future research in relation to Schadenfreude should focus on the arena of the
effect of the responsibility on that of the emotional reactions for a person to misfortune of the
other people. The limitations in relation to the present studies have been found in relation to
the experimental demands along with the social desirability. The future research pertaining to
Schadenfreude should focus on the scenario-based approach having the experimental

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paradigms (Hoogland et al., 2015). It can combine the methodology where the actual
comparison information has been provided that can help in throwing useful light on the
concept of Schadenfreude. The future research should concentrate on in finding the relations
in between responsibility, Schadenfreude and that of the belief in the just world. The research
that has been conducted previously documents strength of the belief within the just world that
can vary between the individuals. The future direction of the research should be on whether
the individuals who have high belief within the just world can perceive the target as being
more responsible for the misfortunes of a person (Schumpe & Lafrenière, 2016). It can help
in pointing out to the fact whether an individual who experiences more amount of
Schadenfreude experiences less sympathy towards that of the targets. The future research can
focus on whether Schadenfreude can prove to be relevant for politics in the event of
strengthening the group affiliation. It should lay emphasis on whether a person who exhibits
high trait of the Schadenfreude will have the tendencies of sharing the stories of the scandals
along with the misfortunes of the individuals. The goal of the future research would be to find
out why the people share the embarrassing failures that can help in the explanation of the
political outcome (Dasborough & Harvey, 2017). It can help in showing the direction of the
election victories that can be helpful for a nation.
Schadenfreude is indicative of experience of the pleasure which is felt by a person on
seeing humiliation of that of other people. It is a complex emotion that makes a person feel
good when they witness the downfall of another individual. It can be said to be a malicious
element that can be helpful for serving motivational functions of a person. The individuals in
the society get a lot of satisfaction in the event of seeing the corrupt people getting punished.
Envy theory talks about self-evaluation that talks about how the painful feelings are lessened
when a person sees the other people coming down from their superior positions. A person can
establish social identity when he compares himself to other people within the framework of

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society. Satisfaction is felt by a person in the event of rival team losing that accounts to be a
significant facet pertaining to Schadenfreude. Future research pertaining to that of the
concept of Schadenfreude shall focus on impact of responsibility on emotional reactions of
person when he sees misfortune in the other people.

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References
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