RESEARCH_FILE

The Science of Envy

Envy has a reputation as a purely destructive emotion — the one that makes you want to tear others down rather than build yourself up.

SEE THE PRACTICE

Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.

THE THOUGHT

“I worked harder — it should have been me”

YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE

“Effort buys a ticket, not the prize. That was always the deal, for everyone.”

ONE PRIVATE MOVE

On a blank note, make two short columns: “What I know I did” and “What I don’t know about their path.” Fill each with three items, then fold the note and put it away.

But decades of social psychology research tell a more precise story. Envy is not one thing. Research distinguishes benign envy, which motivates upward striving, from malicious envy, which motivates pulling the other person down — and the deciding factor between the two is perceived deservingness. When a friend gets something you want and you believe they earned it, the envy that follows tends to be benign: it predicts warmer, more supportive behavior toward them, not less. The old script — 'envy is always a character flaw' — misses this split almost entirely.

2 typesof envy identified by van de Ven, Zeelenberg and Pieters (2009): benign envy that motivates moving oneself up, and malicious envy that motivates pulling the other down — split by perceived deservingness key factorperceived deservingness — whether the envied person is seen as having earned their advantage — is the single reported mechanism that tips envy from malicious to benign, across multiple experimental paradigms less maliceobservers experience less malicious envy toward successful peers who reveal past failures — Harvard Business School (2018) finding showing that humanizing success shifts which form of envy gets triggered self-controldispositional self-control moderates which form of envy emerges — higher self-control predicts channeling envy toward the benign motivational form rather than the malicious destructive one, per the 2021 Frontiers in Psychology validation study

How the science changed

1991
Richard Smith and Sung Hee Kim publish early conceptual work distinguishing envy from related states like resentment and admiration, establishing envy as specifically tied to upward social comparisons with an individual — laying the groundwork for later two-type models. ↗
2009
van de Ven, Zeelenberg and Pieters publish a landmark study in Emotion demonstrating that envy splits into two functionally distinct emotions: benign envy (the other deserves their advantage) motivates moving oneself up; malicious envy (they don't deserve it) motivates pulling them down. Perceived deservingness is the hinge. ↗
2011
Follow-up experimental work by van de Ven and colleagues confirms that benign envy increases persistence on challenging tasks: participants induced to feel benign envy worked harder and longer than those in admiration or neutral conditions, whereas malicious envy did not produce the same motivational boost. ↗
2018
Harvard Business School researchers publish findings that successful individuals who reveal their past failures trigger less malicious envy from observers — humanizing success reduces the perception that it was undeserved, shifting others' envy toward the benign form. ↗
2021
A Frontiers in Psychology study validates the two-face model and adds a self-control dimension: individuals with higher dispositional self-control are better able to channel envy toward benign rather than malicious responses, suggesting the split is not just about context but also about regulation capacity. ↗
2025
Applied psychology coverage synthesizes research on friendship jealousy specifically, noting that benign envy after a friend's success — when the friend's win is seen as deserved — predicts warmer and more supportive behavior toward that friend rather than withdrawal or sabotage. ↗

What people believe vs. what the data shows

The belief“Envy always means you want to tear the other person down.”

The datavan de Ven, Zeelenberg and Pieters showed that when the envied person is seen as deserving their advantage, envy takes a benign form that motivates moving oneself up — not pulling the other down. The destructive form (malicious envy) is triggered specifically by perceived undeservingness. ↗

The belief“Feeling envious of a friend means you don't really care about them.”

The dataResearch on friendship jealousy finds that benign envy after a friend's win — when the win is seen as deserved — actually predicts warmer and more supportive behavior toward that friend. The sting of envy and genuine care for the friend can co-exist, and often do. ↗

The belief“Successful people inevitably provoke envy that's out of their hands.”

The dataHarvard Business School research found that when successful individuals reveal their past failures, observers experience less malicious envy toward them. Humanizing success — showing the struggle behind it — shifts perceived deservingness upward and converts some malicious envy into the benign form. ↗

The belief“Whether envy turns destructive is purely situational — there's nothing you can do about which form shows up.”

The dataA 2021 Frontiers in Psychology study found that individuals with higher self-control are better able to channel envy toward the benign motivational form rather than the malicious destructive one. Self-regulation capacity moderates the split, meaning that building self-control skills shifts which form envy takes. ↗

The belief“Envy and admiration are basically the same thing — both look up at someone who has more.”

The datavan de Ven and colleagues found that admiration and benign envy are functionally distinct: admiration directs attention toward the other person as a model, while benign envy directs motivation toward closing the gap for oneself. In studies, benign envy — not admiration — drove increased persistence on tasks, because the pain of envy is motivationally active in a way admiration is not. ↗

TEST_YOURSELF · How well do you know this science?

01 According to van de Ven, Zeelenberg and Pieters (2009), what is the primary factor that determines whether envy is benign or malicious?
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 ↗
02 What does research on friendship envy find about benign envy after a friend's deserved win?
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 ↗
03 What did Harvard Business School (2018) research find about successful people who reveal past failures?
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 ↗
04 What does the 2021 Frontiers in Psychology study add to the benign vs malicious envy model?
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 ↗
05 How do benign envy and admiration differ in their motivational effects, according to experimental research?
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 ↗