Neural Correlates of Envy and Schadenfreude - Essay Example

On the other hand, schadenfreude is the rewarding feeling often derived when misfortune visits the person one envied. The close relationship and the mechanisms of these contradictory but closely connected emotions were explored and documented in this research report.Hidehiko Takahashi, Motoichiro Kato, Masato Matsuura, Dean Mobbs, Tetsuya Suhara, and Yoshiro Okubo conducted a study on 19 healthy Japanese undergraduates who volunteered to participate in the study.The study investigated the conditions necessary for the occurrence of envy and schadenfreude and the relationship between these two emotions: painful envy and rewarding schadenfreude.

Two complementary hypotheses were tested. First, that envy is evoked through social comparison when the person of superior possession whom we compare ourselves to is self-relevant. The second hypothesis stated that greater schadenfreude is experienced when misfortune befalls an envied person than one who is not envied.Volunteers were exposed to some predetermined scenarios that induced envy and some that did not. In the second part, scenarios that induce schadenfreude and those that did not were used.

The emotions experienced by the volunteers were recorded through brain-mapping. In other words, brain activation associated with envy and schadenfreude was scanned by functional magnetic resonance imaging. After the scans, the participants were also asked to rate the intensity of envy or schadenfreude they experienced on a scale of 1-6. Expected results were validated with material from an initial survey. The researchers established that envy occurs only when the status, occupation, social group, etc are similar or comparable.

They also prove that we do not evaluate objects by their actual value but give them a value based on a comparative scale much like 'keeping up with the Joneses'. "We often evaluate the self and others from social comparisons," said the authors at the start of their paper, setting the pace of their research report.It was also shown by the researchers that not only are envy and schadenfreude closely related but also that when envy is stronger, schadenfreude is correspondingly stronger too. Understanding envy, the authors feel is important because it has far-reaching repercussions from the way individuals behave with each other, to larger social problems and even economic growth.

The research report is directed at a scientific-minded readership which explains a considerable amount of dry facts and figures relating to the actual research findings. This notwithstanding, this report is written in a style that can be understood by the not-so-scientific-minded too.