When your gain is my pain and your pain is my gain: neural correlates of envy and schadenfreude
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We often evaluate the self and others from social comparisons. We feel envy when the target person has superior and self-relevant characteristics. Schadenfreude occurs when envied persons fall from grace. To elucidate the neurocognitive mechanisms of envy and schadenfreude, we conducted two functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. In study one, the participants read information concerning target persons characterized by levels of possession and self-relevance of comparison domains. When the target person's possession was superior and self-relevant, stronger envy and stronger anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activation were induced. In study two, stronger schadenfreude and stronger striatum activation were induced when misfortunes happened to envied persons. ACC activation in study one predicted ventral striatum activation in study two. Our findings document mechanisms of painful emotion, envy, and a rewarding reaction, schadenfreude.
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Schadenfreude has been linked to striatum activation induced by misfortunes happening to envied persons.
“Schadenfreude has been linked to striatum activation induced by misfortunes happening to envied persons (Takahashi et al., 2009).”
From A neurobiological association of revenge propensity during intergroup conflict (2020) · cites this paper as Takahashi et al., 2009
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- Authors
- Takahashi, H., Kato, M., Matsuura, M., Mobbs, D., Suhara, T., & Okubo, Y.
- Affiliations
- Tokyo Medical and Dental University (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Takahashi, Hidehiko
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2009-02-13
- Volume
- 323
- Issue
- 5916
- Pages
- 937-939
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2002818000
- Cited by
- 508
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 38 · 2012: 25
- FWCI
- 40.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- repo.qst.go.jp
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- QST-Repository (National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Keywords
- envy, schadenfreude, social comparison, anterior cingulate cortex, ventral striatum, neural correlates of emotion, self-relevance, possession, misfortune, reward
- MeSH terms
- Basal Ganglia, Brain, Brain Mapping, Emotions, Female, Gyrus Cinguli, Happiness, Humans, Jealousy, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Pain, Reward, Self Concept, Social Behavior, Social Perception, Young Adult
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