{"id":17960,"date":"2013-04-23T15:42:11","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T22:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?page_id=17960"},"modified":"2015-08-21T13:34:28","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T20:34:28","slug":"schadenfreude","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/schadenfreude\/","title":{"rendered":"Schadenfreude"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sb10062916m-001\"Schadenfreude<\/strong><\/span> is pleasure or amusement in response to the misfortunes, pain, humiliation, or mistakes of other people.<\/p>\n

What Is Schadenfreude?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Schadenfreude is a German word with no precise English equivalent. Most people experience schadenfreude from time to time; the feeling tends to occur when someone a person dislikes is threatened or\u00a0experiences a setback. For example, a student might secretly delight when his or her biggest classroom competitor fails a test, and a person might take pleasure in their ex-spouse’s relationship difficulties.<\/p>\n

Some slapstick comedies also utilize schadenfreude by encouraging an audience to laugh at others’ injuries or humiliations. In other cases, schadenfreude can serve as misplaced empathy<\/a>. We all recognize the embarrassing nature of a public fall or saying something silly, and sometimes seeing that other people make the same mistakes we do can cause some joy.<\/p>\n

What Causes Schadenfreude?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

People are more likely to experience schadenfreude when they experience another person as a threat or when they dislike someone. However, people with low self-esteem<\/a> sometimes experience schadenfreude even when they care about someone. A sibling who feels his\/her parents don’t notice his\/her talents, for example, might delight in his\/her sibling’s failures, particularly if the other sibling is often praised by the parents.<\/p>\n

While some degree of schadenfreude is part of the normal continuum of human experience, frequent schadenfreude can indicate a mental health condition. People with personality diagnoses such as antisocial personality may delight in the pain of others and have little regard for others’ well-being. Chronic anxiety<\/a>, depression<\/a>, or low self-esteem<\/a> might also cause someone to seek validation in others’ failures. Some mental health professionals differentiate between glee at minor misfortunes—such as slipping on a banana peel or making a stupid remark—and glee at more serious suffering such as terminal illness or the death of a child.<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Bartlett, T. (n.d.). The neuroscience of schadenfreude. The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>. Retrieved from http:\/\/chronicle.com\/blogs\/percolator\/the-neuroscience-of-schadenfreude\/29659<\/li>\n
  2. Bryer, J. (2011, December 9). Schadenfreude explained: Why we secretly smile when others fail. LiveScience.com<\/em>. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/17398-schadenfreude-affirmation.html<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Schadenfreude is pleasure or amusement in response to the misfortunes, pain, humiliation, or mistakes of other people. What Is Schadenfreude? Schadenfreude is a German word with no precise English equivalent. Most people experience schadenfreude from time to time; the feeling tends to occur when someone a person dislikes is threatened or\u00a0experiences a setback. For example, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2474,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"psychpedia.php","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17960","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}