Authors
Anna Maria C Behler, Catherine SJ Wall, Adriana Bos, Jeffrey D Green
Publication date
2020/7
Journal
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume
46
Issue
7
Pages
1156-1168
Publisher
Sage Publications
Description
Two studies examined how envy influences prosocial and antisocial behavior. In Experiment 1, participants in an envious state (relative to a neutral state) were less helpful: They picked up fewer dropped pencils in their immediate vicinity. We expanded upon these findings by examining how envy affected both helping and harming behavior in a competitive scenario. In Experiment 2, individuals in envious or neutral states assigned puzzle tasks to another student in a prisoner’s dilemma style scenario. Prosocial and antisocial behaviors were assessed via the difficulty of the assigned puzzles (easy puzzles were considered helpful and difficult puzzles were harmful). We hypothesized that experiencing envy would result in greater motive to harm as well as greater likelihood of engaging in harmful behavior. The hypothesis was supported, suggesting that envy has detrimental ramifications that go beyond the individual …
Total citations
20202021202220232024159118
Scholar articles
AMC Behler, CSJ Wall, A Bos, JD Green - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2020