Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude is pleasure at another person’s misfortune. Rivalry, group loyalty, or a belief that someone deserves a setback can prompt it, and that pleasure can make negative stories about opponents easier to believe.
THE IDEA
Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude is a German word meaning “damage-joy”: pleasure at another person’s misfortune. Equivalent concepts appear in cultures around the world, from ancient Greece to modern Japan. People sometimes bond over shared delight in a rival’s setback.
Group loyalty can make an outsider’s setback feel satisfying. When those perceived as not-one-of-us suffer, it can feel like a gain for our own tribe—even when it isn’t. This effect is especially potent when we hold what’s called an oppositional identity: an identity defined by what it opposes. You might not have a label for yourself, but if you love to hate hippies, techies, libertarians, fundamentalists, vegans, or any other ideological group, you’ll welcome news that seems to discredit their worldview. That schadenfreude can become a motive to believe negative information about them without looking too critically at the evidence. Think of the grin you might feel reading that a conference of that group fell apart due to bickering and poor planning—the pleasure can distort your judgment.
Social comparison matters too. Seeing a rival stumble can make us feel better about our own standing.
A setback can also feel like justice when we think the person deserves it. A homophobic politician accidentally tweeting a link to gay porn, for instance, typically sparks glee because it feels like the universe righted a wrong that we couldn’t or wouldn’t address ourselves.
Pleasure in an opponent’s downfall can make us eager to accept a story before checking whether it is true.
When to use it
When reading news about political opponents, be aware of the temptation to uncritically accept negative information that confirms your biases.
In a debate, recognize if you are deriving pleasure from the other side's mistakes rather than evaluating their arguments objectively.
When evaluating claims about the health of a diet or the success of a company, check if your feelings are influenced by ideological bias and seek balanced evidence.
Examining your emotional reactions to news about public figures to identify underlying judgments about fairness.
Navigating workplace dynamics by understanding how social comparison and rivalry can spark schadenfreude during colleagues' failures.
Using self-awareness of schadenfreude to foster humility during competitive situations, such as sports or games.
Understanding group bonding through shared schadenfreude in social settings, like fans rejoicing over a rival team's loss.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Ideological Group Conference Fails
A news story describes a rival ideological group’s conference collapsing into bickering. A reader who dislikes the group feels pleased and accepts the story without checking the evidence.
Vegan Diet Health News
If you find vegans annoying, you are likely to welcome any news that a vegan diet is unhealthy, showing how schadenfreude biases belief in information that discredits an opposing group.
The Hypocrite's Downfall
When a homophobic politician accidentally tweets a link to gay porn, observers feel a sense of glee because the misfortune seems deserved and highlights the person's hypocrisy, satisfying our sense of justice.
Rival's Setback
A colleague who constantly criticizes you makes a major mistake in a high-stakes presentation, leading to a slight feeling of satisfaction on your part because it boosts your relative standing and feels like just deserts.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Is there an ideological group whose misfortunes would cause you to feel schadenfreude? Identify that group and consider how this feeling might distort your judgment.
Reflect on a recent news story that made you feel pleasure at the failure of an idea or group you oppose. How did that affect your objectivity?
How might schadenfreude influence your consumption of news about political adversaries? What steps can you take to mitigate this bias?
When have you recently felt a twinge of satisfaction at someone else's setback? Did you feel the person deserved it?
How does your identification with a social or professional group influence when you feel schadenfreude?
Can noticing your own schadenfreude help you better understand your values and sense of fairness?
References
- Schadenfreude: The Joy of Another’s Misfortune — Tiffany Watt-Smith
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Great Mental Models Volume 2 Physics, Chemistry and Biology
- The Scout Mindset (Julia Galef)