Accuracy and bias in the social perception of envy.

Abstract

Research converges on the notion that when people feel envy, they disguise it towards others. This implies that a person's envy in a given situation cannot be accurately perceived by peers, as envy lacks a specific display that could be used as a perceptual cue. In contrast to this reasoning, research supports that envy contributes to the regulation of status hierarchies. If envy threatens status positions, people should be highly attentive to identify enviers. The combination of the two led us to expect that (a) state envy is difficult to accurately perceive in unacquainted persons and (b) dispositional enviers can be accurately identified by acquaintances. To investigate these hypotheses, we used actor-partner interdependence models to disentangle accuracy and bias in the perception of state and trait envy. In Study 1, 436 unacquainted dyad members competed against each other and rated their own and the partner's state envy. Perception bias was significantly positive, yet perception accuracy was non-significant. In Study 2, 502 acquainted dyad members rated their own and the partner's dispositional benign and malicious envy as well as trait authentic and hubristic pride.Accuracy coefficients were positive for dispositional benign and malicious envy and robust when controlling for trait authentic and hubristic pride. Moreover, accuracy for dispositional benign envy increased with the depth of the relationship. We conclude that enviers might be identifiable but only after extended contact and discuss how this contributes to research on the ambiguous experience of being envied.

“You’re just envious”: Inferring benign and malicious envy from facial expressions and contextual information.

“…Indeed, in line with this reasoning, research indicates that accurate social perception of envy is possible (Lange et al, 2020). People’s self-ratings of their dispositional inclination to react with envy correlated positively with acquainted peers’ perception of people’s dispositional inclination.…”

“…Together with previous findings, the current results suggest that the social perception of envy is possible, despite previous theoretical statements to the contrary (e.g., Miceli & Castelfranchi, 2007; Smith & Kim, 2007). Observers can accurately perceive envy when they can integrate information about a target’s experience, for instance when they judge an acquainted person’s inclination to react with envy across situations (Lange et al, 2020). The current results add to this previous research by shedding light on what cues observers may use to infer envy.…”

“…In fact, enviers may disguise their experience to such an extent that they even deny their feelings toward themselves (Smith & Kim, 2007). In contrast to these perspectives, people report that they recognize envy in others (Rodriguez Mosquera et al, 2010), and recent evidence indicates that acquainted persons can accurately perceive each other’s dispositional tendency to experience envy (Lange et al, 2020). Thus, people do seem to believe they know when others are envious, and their intuitions may be accurate.…”

“…Furthermore, the importance of protecting social rank predicts that higher-ranked persons will be vigilant to perceive cues to other's envy (C. Anderson et al, 2015). Indeed, in line with this reasoning, research indicates that accurate social perception of envy is possible (Lange et al, 2020). People's self-ratings of their dispositional inclination to react with envy correlated positively with acquainted peers' perception of people's dispositional inclination.…”

Envy: An Adversarial Review and Comparison of Two Competing Views

“…Additionally, we noticed a scarcity of studies examining the social perception of envy and how the envious individual is viewed by the self and others (e.g., Cohen-Charash et al, 2013; A. H. Fischer & Cohen-Charash, 2009; Lange, Hagemeyer, Lösch, & Rentzsch, in press; Rodriguez Mosquera, Parrott, & Hurtado de Mendoza, 2010; Silver & Sabini, 1978a, 1978b). More research on the social and personal implications of envy is thus needed.…”