Schadenfreude: To Rejoice In The Misfortune Of Others

Napoleon I said that “jealousy is a declaration of inferiority”. However, we might be happy that someone who has hurt us or just that we don’t like is facing hardship. Is it inferiority or jealousy? According to science, it is schadenfreude .

Moreover, he e st to some extent “normal and natural” feel joy face some mishaps of others. Indeed, this is exactly what this German word means, which defines this curious sensation that we will be dealing with in the context of this article. Let’s dig deeper into the subject now.

What is schadenfreude?

As we said before, this German term is a word made up of two which, united, mean joy for the damage (damage = schaden and joy = freude). But, is this a normal, positive feeling?

It is true that its connotations can resemble malice, jealousy or inferiority. However, this does not necessarily mean bad intentions on the part of the person feeling it.

Indeed, if a mishap happens to a person whom we do not like or who behaved badly with us, the sensation would be related to a feeling of restoration of the natural order, restoring in some way to the balance.

Furthermore, we are talking about a reaction that we could qualify as natural. It results from the fact that our body secretes dopamine, the neurotransmitter linked to reward and pleasure. Therefore, seeing “someone unpleasant” “suffer” constitutes this “reward” for us.

In addition, psychologist and researcher Agustín Ibáñez, from the Center for Neuroscience at Adolfo Ibáñez University, considers this sensation to be part of moral human emotions.

In other words, it would be linked to social comparison with others as well as to the level of appreciation that we have of others. This is where the schadenfreude differs from fear, for example, or sadness or joy.

Why does Schadenfreude occur?

I l exist are specific reasons why this celebration manifests facing the misfortune of someone else. As we will see below, the schadenfreude is in no way negative as long as it remains a natural reaction to these types of situations and there is no direct involvement in ensuring that this misfortune is perpetuated.

Relief

These situations generate some relief for us. In other words, if something bad happens to another person, it means that it does not happen to us.

So that if something happens to an unknown person, like tripping or water falling from a balcony, we know that it could have happened to us and it was otherwise. It is therefore possible that not only will we feel relief, but it will also make us laugh if we find something funny about what has happened.

Jealousy

Unfortunately, relief is not the only reason for this fleeting well-being. Jealousy is too , especially in people who are by nature.

Thus, the fact that a person does not have a resource that he needs and which, when he requests another who has it – or who thinks he has it – sees his request fail, may constitute a reason more than enough for the other to rejoice in his misfortune.

On the other hand, always in connection with jealousy, could also occur the situation in which “I don’t have it, but neither does the other”, for example. Therefore, the lack in the other would lessen the feeling of inferiority.

What is schadenfreude?

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