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Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology

ISSN : 1229-0653

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Vol.30 No.1

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How We View People Who Feel Joy in Our Misfortune: The Influence of Expressed Schadenfreude in Interpersonal Situation

Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology / Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, (P)1229-0653;
2016, v.30 no.1, pp.41-61
https://doi.org/10.21193/kjspp.2016.30.1.003


& (2016). How We View People Who Feel Joy in Our Misfortune: The Influence of Expressed Schadenfreude in Interpersonal Situation. Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, 30(1), 41-61, https://doi.org/10.21193/kjspp.2016.30.1.003

Abstract

In this study, we examined whether people can recognize antecedents of schadenfreude toward their misfortune when they become the target, and whether inferred inner states regulate the perception of the expressers along two dimensions: person perception (warmth, competence, and morality) and interaction style (dominance and affiliation). In Study 1, participants were asked about their experience of recognizing others’ schadenfreude and compassion toward them when they were experiencing misfortune. In Study 2, participants read a scenario featuring schadenfreude or compassion. The results showed that the expresser of schadenfreude was viewed as feeling greater inferiority, envy, ill will, dislike, rivalry, and thoughts that the target deserved their misfortune, in comparison to the expresser of compassion. Moreover, expressers of schadenfreude were perceived as incompetent, cold, and immoral. Regarding interaction style, the expresser of schadenfreude was perceived as more dominant and less affiliative than the expresser of compassion.

keywords
compassion, schadenfreude, person perception, morality perception

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