Influence of Group Identification on Malicious and Benign Envy: A Cross-Sectional Developmental Study

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Elena Gaviria¹  Laura Quintanilla²  María José Navas² 

[1] Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, National University of Distance Education;Department of Methodology for Behavioral Sciences, National University of Distance Education

关键词: emotional development;    benign envy;    malicious envy;    personal identity;    social identity;    group identification;    schadenfreude;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.663735

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Envy is the result of a social comparison that shows us a negative image of ourselves. The present study addresses the effect of the context of group comparison and group identification on children's expression of this emotion. Through different stories, participants aged between 6 and 11 years were exposed to four contexts of upward social comparison in which they had to adopt the role of the disadvantaged character. From their emotional responses and their decisions in a resource allocation task, three response profiles were created: malicious envy, benign envy, and non-envy. Although we found important differences between verbal and behavioral responses, the results showed greater envy, both malicious and benign, when the envied was an out-group. On the other hand, when the envied belonged to the in-group and competed with a member of the out-group, malicious but not benign envy practically disappeared. With age, envious responses decreased, and non-envious responses increased. The role of social identity in the promotion and inhibition of envy is discussed, as well as the acquisition of emotional display rules in the benign envy and non-envy profiles.

【 授权许可】

CC BY