Envy
Envy is a negative emotion characterized by discontent, resentment, and a painful longing for the superior possessions, traits, status, or achievements of another, typically triggered by upward social comparison that highlights one's own relative inferiority.[1][2] This response signals a perceived threat to one's standing and can manifest in varied forms, distinguishing benign envy—which motivates self-improvement and emulation—and malicious envy—which fosters hostility, sabotage, or desires to diminish the envied other.[3][4] Psychological research identifies envy as an adaptive yet often maladaptive signal in social hierarchies, with empirical studies linking malicious variants to reduced prosocial behavior, increased aggression, and psychopathic tendencies, while benign forms correlate with enhanced effort toward personal goals.[5][6] Evolutionarily, envy likely evolved to spur competition for resources and mates, prompting individuals to rectify disparities through striving or, in extremes, undermining rivals, though chronic envy erodes well-being and interpersonal relations.[7][8] Historically, envy has been condemned in moral and religious frameworks, notably as invidia, one of the seven deadly sins in Christian theology, where it denotes sorrow or spite at others' prosperity irrespective of merit, contrasting with virtuous rejoicing in communal goods.[9] Philosophically, from Aristotle's view of envy as base pain at undeserved equals' success to Nietzsche's reframing of ressentiment as a driver of slave morality, it underscores tensions between equality and hierarchy.[10] Neuroscience reveals envy engaging regions like the anterior cingulate cortex for distress processing and ventral striatum for reward valuation of others' gains, with meta-analyses confirming activations in frontal gyri tied to self-evaluation and social cognition during envious states.[11][12] These mechanisms highlight envy's causal roots in comparative cognition, often amplified in modern contexts of visible inequality via social media, yet mitigated by self-control and perspective-taking.[13]Definition and Conceptual Foundations
Core Definition and Characteristics
![Giotto's depiction of Envy from the Scrovegni Chapel][float-right] Envy constitutes an aversive emotional response triggered by the perception of another's superior standing in a domain of personal relevance, wherein the envier lacks the coveted attribute, achievement, or possession.[5] This reaction encompasses a constellation of feelings including inferiority, resentment, and painful longing directed toward the envied individual or their advantage.[14] Psychologists delineate envy as distinct from jealousy, the latter involving apprehension over potential loss of one's own valued relationship or resource to a rival, whereas envy centers on the absence of a desired good held by another without implying prior ownership.[15] Empirical studies confirm that envy arises predominantly through upward social comparisons, where self-evaluation against a better-off comparator yields distress. Core characteristics of envy include its inherently painful quality, often manifesting as a blend of emotional hostility and cognitive self-deprecation, with the envier appraising the self as disadvantaged relative to a similar peer.[16] This emotion typically evokes motivations either to elevate one's own position—through effort or emulation—or to undermine the rival's superiority, reflecting its dual potential for adaptive or destructive outcomes.[3] Unlike admiration, which inspires without resentment, envy incorporates disapproval of the other's fortune and shame over one's inadequacy, frequently leading to suppressed acknowledgment due to its socially undesirable connotations.[17] Neuroimaging research associates envy with heightened activity in brain regions linked to pain and social cognition, underscoring its visceral intensity.[7] Envy's expression varies by context but consistently correlates with perceived relevance and proximity of the comparator; for instance, it intensifies when the envied domain aligns with core self-identity, such as professional success among peers.[18] Cross-cultural surveys indicate envy as a universal human experience, though its intensity and behavioral sequelae differ, with individualistic societies reporting higher instances tied to personal achievement disparities.[19] The emotion's persistence stems from its role in signaling status threats, prompting recalibration of aspirations or social strategies, yet unchecked envy can erode well-being through rumination and relational strain.[20]Distinctions from Related Emotions
Envy is fundamentally distinguished from jealousy by its focus on an upward social comparison wherein an individual experiences distress over another's possession of a superior good, trait, or achievement that one lacks, often accompanied by feelings of inferiority, longing, and resentment toward the emotion itself.[21] In contrast, jealousy arises in triangular relational contexts involving fear of losing an existing valued possession—typically affection or status—to a rival, evoking suspicion, distrust, and anxiety about potential deprivation rather than a direct desire to acquire what the other holds.[21] This core difference highlights envy's dyadic structure (self versus superior other) versus jealousy’s triadic one (self, valued object, intruder), with empirical assessments confirming distinct experiential profiles: envy linked to self-devaluation and motivational impulses to equalize, jealousy to defensive guarding.[22] Resentment, while frequently co-occurring with envy as a secondary reaction to perceived disparities, differs in its emphasis on sustained bitterness and moral indignation over past or ongoing injustices, without the specific covetous longing central to envy.[23] Envy targets the envied party's advantage as painful precisely because it is attainable or admirable, potentially spurring benign emulation or malicious hostility, whereas resentment fixates on the unfairness of the process or outcome, often decoupled from any aspiration to possess the same good—such as anger at systemic favoritism rather than wishing for the favored position.[24] Psychological analyses separate these by noting that envy derives from relative deprivation in achievement domains, while resentment builds from attributions of blame or violation, with the former more tied to self-improvement motives in non-malicious forms and the latter to retaliatory impulses.[25] Schadenfreude, the pleasure derived from witnessing misfortune befall another, contrasts with envy in valence and direction: envy entails pain from the target's undeserved (or seemingly so) success, whereas schadenfreude provides emotional relief through the target's downfall, often as a resolution to prior envious tension in its malicious variant.[26] Studies demonstrate that only malicious envy—characterized by hostility and a desire to undermine the superior—predicts schadenfreude, independent of the misfortune's deservingness, underscoring envy's proactive resentment versus schadenfreude's reactive satisfaction; benign envy, aimed at self-elevation, does not yield such joy in harm.[27] This link positions schadenfreude as a potential consequence of unresolved envy rather than a parallel emotion, with neuroimaging and cross-cultural data affirming their shared roots in social comparison but divergent affective outcomes.[26]Biological and Evolutionary Perspectives
Evolutionary Origins and Adaptive Value
Envy is hypothesized to have originated as an adaptation in human evolutionary history to detect and respond to relative disadvantages in domains critical to survival and reproduction, such as resource acquisition, social status, and mate value. In ancestral environments characterized by scarcity and competition, individuals who experienced envy toward those possessing superior fitness-relevant traits or resources were motivated to engage in behaviors that narrowed these gaps, thereby enhancing their own inclusive fitness. This emotional signal functioned as an internal cue of potential adaptive problems, prompting compensatory actions like intensified effort, skill acquisition, or intrasexual rivalry, rather than passive resignation.[28] The adaptive value of envy lies in its capacity to drive upward social comparisons that translate into tangible improvements in competitive positioning. For instance, envy toward a rival's higher status or wealth could spur resource-seeking strategies, such as hunting prowess or alliance formation, which historically correlated with greater mating opportunities and offspring survival in small-scale hunter-gatherer societies. Empirical support comes from cross-cultural studies showing envy to be elicited predictably by cues of inferiority in evolutionarily significant arenas, with men reporting stronger envy over financial success and status—proxies for provisioning ability—while women experience it more intensely over physical attractiveness and relational exclusivity, aligning with sex-specific reproductive pressures.[29][28] These patterns suggest design features shaped by natural selection, as evidenced by the emotion's universality and functional specificity, rather than cultural invention alone.[30] Although envy can manifest destructively in modern contexts, its core adaptive logic persists: it calibrates responses to social hierarchies where relative rank influences access to mates and allies. In primates, analogous behaviors—such as aggressive challenges to dominant individuals—demonstrate precursors to human envy, underscoring its deep phylogenetic roots in status-sensitive social cognition. Experimental manipulations inducing envy have been shown to increase motivation for self-improvement or derogation of superiors, supporting the hypothesis that the emotion evolved to resolve rather than merely register disparities.[7] Failure to experience envy might have conferred disadvantages in competitive environments, as it would diminish vigilance toward threats from better-endowed competitors.[28]Neurobiological and Genetic Bases
Neuroimaging studies have identified several brain regions involved in the experience of envy, particularly during upward social comparisons where an individual perceives another's superior outcomes. Functional MRI experiments demonstrate activation in the ventral striatum during relative gains versus losses, reflecting reward processing disparities that underpin the motivational aspect of envy.[31] The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) shows bilateral engagement in response to relative versus absolute outcomes, associating with the emotional distress of perceived inferiority.[31] Additionally, the medial prefrontal cortex integrates self- and other-reward information, channeling signals to dopaminergic midbrain regions, as evidenced in primate models where envy-like devaluation of personal rewards occurred upon observing conspecific gains.[32] Structural analyses reveal correlations between dispositional envy—a trait-like proneness to envy—and gray matter volume in specific areas. Voxel-based morphometry in samples of 73 and 27 young adults found positive associations with the superior temporal gyrus (r=0.44, p<0.001), implicated in social perception, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (r=0.46, p<0.001), linked to emotional regulation, with the latter mediated by emotional intelligence.[33] These findings suggest that individual differences in envy may partly stem from variations in neural architecture supporting social cognition and self-regulation. Genetic research on envy remains limited but draws from twin studies of closely related constructs like romantic jealousy, which shares phenomenological overlap with malicious envy. A study of approximately 7,700 Finnish twins estimated 29% heritability for jealousy, with the remainder attributable to non-shared environmental factors, and no sex differences in genetic influences.[34] Candidate gene analyses identify interactions between oxytocin receptor (OXTR rs53576) and glutamate decarboxylase 1 (GAD1 rs3791878) polymorphisms, modulating envy aversion in ultimatum games and dorsal ACC activation during unfair offers evoking envy (F=17.02, p=0.043).[35] These variants influence prosocial tendencies and amygdala responses to envious stimuli, indicating polygenic contributions to envy-related behaviors without establishing causality for specific alleles.[35]Psychological Typology and Mechanisms
Benign versus Malicious Envy
Psychological research distinguishes between benign envy, which motivates self-improvement through upward social comparison, and malicious envy, which fosters resentment and desires to diminish the envied individual's advantage.[36] This differentiation, first empirically validated in a 2009 study by van de Ven, Zeelenberg, and Pieters, arises from distinct appraisals: benign envy involves perceptions of controllability over the gap, leading to admiration and efforts to "level up," whereas malicious envy stems from appraisals of uncontrollability or unfairness, prompting hostility and tendencies to "level down."[37] Participants in the study recalled envy experiences and rated them on scales, revealing that benign episodes correlated with positive self-focused actions, while malicious ones linked to other-detracting impulses.[38] Benign envy activates approach-oriented behaviors, such as increased effort toward personal goals, as evidenced by experiments where induced benign envy led to higher performance in tasks like anagram solving compared to neutral conditions.[3] In contrast, malicious envy correlates with avoidance and aggression, including schadenfreude—pleasure from the envied person's misfortune—and support for policies that harm superior others, such as favoring taxation that reduces high earners' advantages without personal gain.[39] Neuroimaging and correlational data further indicate that benign envy engages reward-related brain areas associated with motivation, while malicious envy activates regions tied to pain and threat, underscoring their qualitatively different emotional profiles.[5] Individual differences moderate the prevalence of each subtype; for instance, higher self-control predicts a shift toward benign envy by enabling regulation of hostile impulses, as shown in a 2021 study where low self-control amplified malicious responses to envy inductions.[20] Trait measures like the Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS), developed post-2009, reliably differentiate chronic tendencies, with benign traits positively predicting subjective well-being and malicious traits negatively correlating with it in longitudinal samples.[40] Workplace applications reveal benign envy enhancing productivity through emulation, whereas malicious envy predicts sabotage or withdrawal, based on surveys of over 200 employees linking envy subtypes to performance metrics.[41] Antecedents also diverge: benign envy is more likely with strong interpersonal bonds or when the envied advantage seems attainable, fostering inspiration, while malicious envy emerges in zero-sum perceptions or low self-efficacy contexts, amplifying destructive outcomes.[3] A 2016 review emphasized that distinguishing these subtypes improves predictive validity over undifferentiated envy models, as aggregated measures obscure adaptive versus maladaptive effects.[3] Empirical support from cross-cultural samples, including European and Asian cohorts, confirms the framework's robustness, though cultural norms emphasizing harmony may suppress overt malicious expressions.[42]Cognitive and Emotional Processes
Envy emerges from cognitive appraisals rooted in upward social comparisons, wherein individuals perceive others as possessing superior outcomes or traits in domains deemed personally relevant, such as wealth, status, or abilities.[43] This process, formalized in Leon Festinger's 1954 social comparison theory, drives self-evaluation against similar others, heightening awareness of personal shortcomings when the comparison yields unfavorable results.[44] Appraisals intensify if the advantage appears unjust, attainable, or reflective of low personal deservingness, fostering a mental representation of the envied good as both desirable and deficient in one's own possession.[16] Cognitively, envy allocates attentional resources preferentially to the rival's advantages, impairing focus on neutral or self-relevant tasks, while bolstering episodic memory for envy-eliciting stimuli, such as specific possessions or achievements.[45] This attentional bias extends to self-regulatory depletion, where ruminative focus on the disparity exhausts executive functions, reducing persistence on unrelated goals; experimental inductions of envy have shown participants exerting 20-30% less effort on subsequent self-control tasks compared to neutral conditions.[46] Such mechanisms underscore envy's role in adaptive vigilance for status threats, though they can cascade into maladaptive fixation if unchecked by reappraisal strategies.[47] Emotionally, envy elicits a compound response of inferiority, resentment, and hostile longing, distinct from jealousy by lacking fear of relational loss and emphasizing unilateral desire for the other's gain.[14] These feelings arise from the painful dissonance between self-perceived inadequacy and the rival's unearned superiority, often triggering autonomic arousal including elevated cortisol and heart rate variability akin to anger or shame.[31] In empirical paradigms, envy induction via narrative scenarios yields self-reported intensity correlating with behavioral withdrawal or aggression, with longitudinal data linking chronic envy to heightened depressive symptoms through mediated pathways of low self-esteem and social avoidance.[48] Neurobiologically, functional MRI studies localize envious processing to the anterior cingulate cortex for registering social pain and the prefrontal cortex for modulating impulses, with meta-analyses confirming greater activation in the inferior parietal lobule during comparisons perceived as threatening to self-worth.[11] These circuits integrate cognitive evaluation with affective valence, where individual differences in trait envy predict stronger connectivity between frontal regions and the ventral striatum, reflecting blended motivation and aversion.[33] Disruptions, as in patients with prefrontal lesions, attenuate envy intensity, suggesting inhibitory controls temper raw emotional surges.[12]Developmental Trajectories
Emergence in Childhood and Adolescence
Envy emerges in early childhood as children develop the cognitive capacity for social comparison and an understanding of others' mental states. Precursors resembling jealousy, such as distress over divided attention from caregivers, appear in infants as young as 6 months, but these lack the deliberate appraisal of another's advantage central to envy.[49] True envy requires theory of mind—the ability to infer desires and possessions in others—which typically develops around age 3 to 4 years.[50] At this stage, children across cultures demonstrate awareness of envy, recognizing it as discomfort over a peer's superior outcome and applying basic strategies to mitigate it, such as rationalizing the disparity.[51] Experimental evidence confirms envious responses in preschoolers during resource allocation tasks. For instance, in studies where children observed a peer receiving a preferred toy or reward, 3- to 5-year-olds displayed heightened negative affect, gaze aversion, or attempts to equalize outcomes, behaviors absent or less pronounced in younger toddlers.[52] These reactions intensify with sibling dynamics or peer interactions in daycare settings, where direct comparisons foster early malicious tendencies, such as withholding resources from advantaged others.[53] By school age (5–10 years), envy correlates with fairness preferences, as children reject unequal distributions favoring others even at personal cost, indicating an adaptive drive to rectify perceived injustices.[54] In adolescence, envy evolves into more complex forms tied to identity formation and status hierarchies. Peer comparisons peak during this period, with self-reported narratives revealing envy primarily directed at material possessions, such as clothing or gadgets, rather than abstract traits.[55] Hormonal changes and increased social scrutiny amplify these feelings, leading to behavioral outcomes like reduced prosociality toward envied peers or heightened competitiveness in group settings.[56] Longitudinal data indicate that dispositional envy, measured via scales, predicts lower well-being and interpersonal withdrawal in teens, particularly when comparisons involve upward trajectories in peers' achievements or appearances.[57] This developmental shift underscores envy's role in motivating self-improvement or, conversely, resentment, as adolescents navigate expanded social networks.[58]Persistence and Changes in Adulthood
Dispositional envy exhibits high rank-order stability in adulthood, with longitudinal data from a sample of 1,229 German adults (aged 18–88) showing correlation coefficients of .78 for global envy over six years across three waves (2013, 2017, 2019).[59] Mean-level changes within individuals remain negligible, with latent Cohen's d values ranging from -.07 to .03, indicating persistence as a trait-like characteristic rather than marked intra-personal decline.[59] Domain-specific envy demonstrates comparable stability (correlations .75–.80), underscoring its endurance across professional, relational, and personal spheres.[59] Cross-sectional evidence reveals an age-related gradient, with younger adults experiencing envy more frequently and intensely than older ones; approximately 80% of individuals under 30 reported envy in the prior year, compared to 69% of those aged 50 and above.[60] This pattern holds in panel data, confirming monotonically lower envy levels among older adults.[61] Envy targets consistently involve same-gender and similarly aged peers, minimizing upward social comparisons to distant superiors as age advances.[60] Shifts in envy's manifestations occur with age: younger adults (<30) prioritize domains like physical attractiveness, intelligence, and material possessions, reflecting competitive early-life hierarchies.[62] Older adults (>50), by contrast, report envy more toward health, close relationships, and emotional fulfillment, aligning with socioemotional selectivity theory's emphasis on meaningful bonds over status gains.[62] These changes may arise from accumulated life experience, enhanced emotion regulation, or reduced exposure to provocative comparisons, though dispositional underpinnings limit overall attenuation.[60]Social and Contemporary Manifestations
Envy in Status Hierarchies and Material Goods
Envy frequently emerges in social status hierarchies through upward social comparisons, where individuals perceive others as occupying superior positions, prompting feelings of inferiority and resentment.[43] According to social comparison theory, such comparisons intensify when personal control over improvement is low, leading to envy rather than mere aspiration.[63] Empirical research indicates that envy regulates hierarchies by motivating subordinates to challenge superiors or by eliciting defensive behaviors in those envied, thereby stabilizing or shifting dominance structures.[64] A 2021 analysis proposes that successes in socially valued domains provoke envy in lower-status observers, fostering competition that reinforces hierarchical order.[65] Studies reveal that individuals experience stronger envy toward social status markers, such as prestige or influence, compared to material wealth alone, as status directly threatens self-perceived rank.[66] For instance, subjective perceptions of low status correlate more robustly with envious responses than objective income disparities, highlighting the role of perceived hierarchy in emotional reactions.[66] In experimental settings, envy toward high-status figures drives behaviors like social undermining when future status threats are salient, linking the emotion to real-world hierarchical maintenance.[67] Regarding material goods, envy arises from comparisons of possessions that symbolize status or lifestyle advantages, often amplified in consumer contexts.[68] A 2023 study found that upward social comparisons, particularly via visible displays of luxury items, mediate materialism and subsequent envious impulses toward compulsive acquisition.[69] Material purchases evoke greater envy than experiential ones during direct purchase comparisons, as tangible goods allow easier assessment of relative deprivation.[70] Advertising historically exploits this by framing products as envy-inducing status signals, as seen in mid-20th-century campaigns promising social elevation through ownership. Such envy contributes to economic behaviors like status consumption, where acquiring goods serves to mitigate feelings of inferiority rather than fulfill utilitarian needs.[68]