That's Too Bad...NOT! : Predictors of Feeling Pleasure in Response to Another's Misfortune

Abstract

"Schadenfreude" is a feeling of pleasure in response to another's misfortune (Feather, 1989). Past research has documented that people are most likely to feel schadenfreude toward members of the same sex whom they dislike or envy. This study extended previous research with three objectives: to determine, via act nomination, a range of domains in which men and women are likely to experience schadenfreude (Phase I); to examine differences in men's and women's reported pleasure in response to imagining a same-sex target experience a range of misfortunate events (Phase II); and to examine men's and women's differential reaction to imagining misfortunes befalling a close same-sex friend as opposed to a same-sex member of their social network (Phase II).