Schadenfreude is a social emotion that describes one’s happiness at the misfortune of others. Because people experience schadenfreude to different extents, it can also be considered a trait. The present research aimed to develop a trait measure of schadenfreude and investigate the relationship between schadenfreude and political downfalls. We developed an item pool and used exploratory (Study 1) and confirmatory (Study 2) factor analyses to establish a 12-item, two-factor schadenfreude measure: benign and malicious. We also assessed its test–retest reliability (Study 3) and convergent validity with related measures (Study 4). Findings supported a two-factor schadenfreude measure that produced valid and reliable scores (Studies 1–4). In an experiment, we found a positive correlation between episodic—but not trait—schadenfreude on spreading news of a politician’s downfall (Study 5). Using a 3 (Political affiliation: Democrat, Republican, or other) × 3 (Manipulated condition: Democrat, Republican, or CEO) design, we examined the extent to which participants’ schadenfreude predicted their intentions and choices to share an embarrassing news story about a politician or CEO via social media. Schadenfreude can be assessed as a reliable trait—one that may help us predict why some people intend to spread news of embarrassing political failures.
The present experiment examined the extent to which appearance-focused accounts on Instagram (a photo-sharing social-media platform) negatively influence people's moods and anxiety levels. Undergraduates at the University of Florida (N = 81, ages 18-30 years, M = 19.07, SD = 1.56) were randomly assigned to scroll through Instagram accounts with either image-conscious photos (fitness, model, and beauty-blogging accounts) or control photos (food, nature, homedecor accounts). Before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the experimental manipulation, participants completed state-based mood and anxiety measures, and a one-time measure of trait anxiety. Controlling for Time-1 measures, regression results showed that viewing photos from imageconscious accounts related to decreased positive mood and increased negative mood and anxiety at Time 2. Exploratory analyses showed that people with lower trait anxiety were especially susceptible to feeling more state anxiety after viewing image-conscious photos. These findings advance theory by suggesting that state-trait anxiety dynamics are important to understanding how people react to viewing image-conscious Instagram accounts. Further, a social comparison theory of viewing image-conscious photos online should integrate information about people's short-term reactions (states, moods) and long-term predispositions (traits, individual differences). Public Policy Relevance Statement This research examined the effects of viewing images from fitness, model, and beauty-blogging Instagram accounts (vs. control images) on changes in college students' moods and state anxiety. Students viewing image-conscious Instagram accounts (vs. control) reported decreases in positive mood and increases in negative mood and state anxiety, which depended on their trait anxiety. State-trait dynamics play a role in the social comparison of image-conscious photos.
Error management theory (EMT; Haselton & Buss, 2000) draws on parental investment theory (Trivers, 1972) and signal detection to make novel predictions about human cognitive biases and their adaptive implications. EMT predicts that heterosexual men overperceive sexual interest from women, whereas women underperceive honest signals of relationship commitment from men. In turn, sexual strategies theory (Buss & Schmitt, 1993) predicts that men may experience more regret over romantic or sexual omission (missed opportunities), whereas women may experience more regret over romantic or sexual commission (regretting past decisions). We tested these predictions using craigslist’s missed connections (personal ads posted by people on craigslist.org seeking to contact someone they saw briefly in public) and FMyLife.com’s (FML) love and intimacy sections (embarrassing incidents that people experience and choose to share online anonymously). We recorded missed connections for men seeking women and women seeking men in all 50 U.S. states at 3 time points (N > 61,000). We also recorded FMLs posted by men and women over a 3-year span (N > 3,500). Consistent with EMT, parental investment theory, and sexual strategies theory, men were more likely to post missed connections (sexual or romantic omission regret), whereas women were more likely to post in FML’s love and intimacy sections (sexual or romantic commission regret). We discuss EMT’s broad theoretical implications for psychology.
What does it take to feel you belong? Using a sample of 606 students in 30 classrooms, with 15 classrooms participating in a school‐based dance intervention, we examined intrapsychic and extrapsychic sources of social belonging using social network analysis. Whereas outdegree (the number of outgoing liking nominations to classmates) served as a proxy variable for students' active acceptance of others, indegree (the number of ingoing liking nominations from other peers) served as a proxy variable for the passive acceptance by others. Both measures should account for changes in students' sense of belonging to their classroom. Multilevel longitudinal mediation analyses supported our predictions—increased belonging related to increasing acceptance by others and of others, which were experienced by students participating in the dance intervention for a year (vs. a non‐treated control group). We discuss our findings within the current debate on the use of distal variables to explain intrapsychic constructs.
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