Understanding Envy
The Definition of Envy
According to Smith and Kim (2007), envy is “an unpleasant, often painful emotion characterized by feelings of inferiority, hostility, and resentment caused by an awareness of a desired attribute enjoyed by another person or group of persons” (p. 46). As said by Kant (1780/1997), what lies at the foundation of envy is the comparison of oneself to a better performing person. At the idea of envy, it is not the pain that occurs when other people excel in a particular activity or in a possession of a better physical attribute, but rather, it is the pain that occurs when someone is superior to self. At some other research (van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2009), envious feelings are sometimes linked to …show more content…
The two words are theoretically different, but still, envy is regarded as the same with jealousy, “an aversive emotion experienced when a valued social relationship is threatened” (DelPriore, Hill, & Buss, 2012, p. 317). According to Ben-Ze’ev (2001), “What causes conflation of envy and jealousy are the frequency of their co-occurrence and the discomfort with envy's moral connotations” (p. 281). Smith & Kim (2007) further explained the differences between the two words:
Envy typically involves two people and occurs when one lacks something enjoyed by another. The target of envy may be a person or a group of persons, but the focus of envy is that one lacks something compared with a specific target, whether it be a target individual or target group. Jealousy typically involves three people and occurs when one fears losing someone to another person. Envy and jealousy result from different situations, generate distinct appraisals, and produce distinctive emotional experiences. (p. 47)
Benign and Malicious …show more content…
The researchers addressed that there are two types of envy, a positive one which is called benign envy, and a negative form of envy which is called malicious envy. People who are aggravated to someone superior to them with the chances of pulling the envied people down to their level belong to maliciously envious people (van de Ven et al., 2011a). According to van de Ven et al. (2009), they found out that “there is emotional pain but no motivational gain for self-improvement” to those people who engage to malicious envy (p.
The Definition of Envy
According to Smith and Kim (2007), envy is “an unpleasant, often painful emotion characterized by feelings of inferiority, hostility, and resentment caused by an awareness of a desired attribute enjoyed by another person or group of persons” (p. 46). As said by Kant (1780/1997), what lies at the foundation of envy is the comparison of oneself to a better performing person. At the idea of envy, it is not the pain that occurs when other people excel in a particular activity or in a possession of a better physical attribute, but rather, it is the pain that occurs when someone is superior to self. At some other research (van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2009), envious feelings are sometimes linked to …show more content…
The two words are theoretically different, but still, envy is regarded as the same with jealousy, “an aversive emotion experienced when a valued social relationship is threatened” (DelPriore, Hill, & Buss, 2012, p. 317). According to Ben-Ze’ev (2001), “What causes conflation of envy and jealousy are the frequency of their co-occurrence and the discomfort with envy's moral connotations” (p. 281). Smith & Kim (2007) further explained the differences between the two words:
Envy typically involves two people and occurs when one lacks something enjoyed by another. The target of envy may be a person or a group of persons, but the focus of envy is that one lacks something compared with a specific target, whether it be a target individual or target group. Jealousy typically involves three people and occurs when one fears losing someone to another person. Envy and jealousy result from different situations, generate distinct appraisals, and produce distinctive emotional experiences. (p. 47)
Benign and Malicious …show more content…
The researchers addressed that there are two types of envy, a positive one which is called benign envy, and a negative form of envy which is called malicious envy. People who are aggravated to someone superior to them with the chances of pulling the envied people down to their level belong to maliciously envious people (van de Ven et al., 2011a). According to van de Ven et al. (2009), they found out that “there is emotional pain but no motivational gain for self-improvement” to those people who engage to malicious envy (p.