The Science of Envy: Why the Emotion That Stings Can Also Push You Forward

TEST_YOURSELF · How well do you know this science?

1. 01 According to van de Ven, Zeelenberg and Pieters (2009), what is the primary factor that determines whether envy is benign or malicious?

   The intensity of the emotion feltWhether the envied person is a close friend or a strangerWhether the envied person is seen as deserving their advantageHow recently the advantage was gained

   The 2009 study found that perceived deservingness is the hinge: when the envied advantage is seen as deserved, envy takes the benign form that motivates self-improvement; when it's seen as undeserved, it takes the malicious form that motivates pulling the other down. source ↗

2. 02 What does research on friendship envy find about benign envy after a friend's deserved win?

   It reliably leads to withdrawal from the friendshipIt predicts warmer and more supportive behavior toward the friendIt produces the same sabotage impulses as malicious envyIt is indistinguishable from resentment in its behavioral effects

   Research on friendship jealousy finds that benign envy — triggered when the friend's win is perceived as deserved — predicts warmer, more supportive behavior toward that friend rather than withdrawal or harm. The co-existence of envy and support is consistent with the benign/malicious distinction. source ↗

3. 03 What did Harvard Business School (2018) research find about successful people who reveal past failures?

   It increases admiration but has no effect on envyIt triggers more malicious envy because people feel tricked by vulnerabilityIt reduces malicious envy by humanizing success and raising perceived deservingnessIt makes observers more likely to copy the person's failures rather than successes

   The HBS study found that revealing past failures humanizes success and raises how deserved observers perceive the achievement to be — which shifts envy from the malicious form toward the benign form, reducing the pull-down motivation. source ↗

4. 04 What does the 2021 Frontiers in Psychology study add to the benign vs malicious envy model?

   A third type of envy — 'reflective envy' — that is neither benign nor maliciousThat dispositional self-control moderates which form of envy emergesThat gender determines which type of envy a person experiencesThat benign envy is only possible between people of equal status

   The 2021 Frontiers in Psychology validation study found that self-control capacity moderates the split: individuals with higher dispositional self-control more successfully channel envy toward the benign motivational form rather than the malicious destructive one, showing the split is not entirely situational. source ↗

5. 05 How do benign envy and admiration differ in their motivational effects, according to experimental research?

   Admiration drives harder task effort; benign envy only affects self-esteemBoth emotions produce identical motivational outcomesBenign envy drives greater task persistence than admiration because the pain of envy is motivationally active in a way admiration is notAdmiration is more motivating than benign envy only when the goal is long-term

   Experimental studies found that benign envy — not admiration — drove increased task persistence. This is because the discomfort of the envy state creates active motivational pressure to close the gap, while admiration directs attention toward the other person as a model without the same emotional urgency. source ↗