Psychology Explains Why Some People Like Watching People Fail
Wilco W. van Dijk, says that you enjoy others’ misfortune only if you can derive something good out of it. In other words, it’s a tremendous self-affirming boost.In the study, 70 undergraduate students read two interviews about a successful student who was about to land a great job.
Then, they read an interview with the student’s supervisor, detailing how the student’s grades have started falling. The results found that people with lower self-esteem were more likely to experience schadenfreude.This seems to be because they are more threatened by people who seem to be doing better than them.
So, whenever those people fail, it allows them not to feel inferior anymore. And it also appears that if you are already self-affirmed, you are much less likely to feel joy when others fail.There is a link between feeling inferior and having low self-esteem, and being glad to see others fail.
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