Joy, Schadenfreude, Sorrow, and Resentment as Responses Restoring Balance in Cognitive Units

Pietraszkiewicz, Agnieszka; Wojciszke, Bogdan (2014). Joy, Schadenfreude, Sorrow, and Resentment as Responses Restoring Balance in Cognitive Units. Social Psychology, 45(4), pp. 274-285. Hogrefe & Huber 10.1027/1864-9335/a000174

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Based on Heider’s (1958) balance theory we hypothesize that emotional responses to other persons’ outcomes depend on attitudes towards these persons. Positive attitudes towards others lead to empathic responses to their outcomes– joy after a success and sorrow after a failure. Negative attitudes result in paradoxical responses – negative to a success (resentment) and positive to a failure (schadenfreude). These emotions function as responses restoring balance within cognitive units consisting of the perceiver, other persons and their outcomes. Three studies supported these hypotheses and showed that deservingness considerations play a weaker role in shaping emotional responses of joy and sorrow to others’ outcomes when strong interpersonal attitudes are involved. However, deservingness plays an independent role in shaping the emotional response of resentment.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology

UniBE Contributor:

Pietraszkiewicz, Agnieszka

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology

ISSN:

1864-9335

Publisher:

Hogrefe & Huber

Language:

English

Submitter:

Agnieszka Pietraszkiewicz

Date Deposited:

30 Dec 2015 11:10

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:50

Publisher DOI:

10.1027/1864-9335/a000174

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.74344

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/74344

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