Oftentimes, we feel envious when witnessing others’ success, and psychologists have found that there are two types of envy that arise. There is malicious envy which leads us to harm the envied individual and benign envy that pushes us to work harder (van de Ven et al., 2009; van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2012). Brooks and colleagues (2019) primarily focus on the effect of revealing both successes and failures (relative to only revealing successes) on one’s malicious envy and benign envy. This is done through four distinct studies. This post will primarily detail the results of Study 3.
Study 3 investigates how revealing failures affects malicious envy and benign envy in a field setting. The participants were 86 entrepreneurs in the same field who were competing in a pitch competition to a panel of investors. After each entrepreneur pitched their product, they listened to an audio recording of a pitch from a “competitor” (a real startup not involved in the contest) that was similar to theirs in terms of scope, development, and industry. Participants randomly assigned to the success-only condition listened to the recording that included statements like “I have already landed some huge clients,” whereas the recording in the failure-and-success condition included statements like “I wasn’t always so successful.”
Malicious envy was measured on a five point scale using items like, “Other people would wish that this person hadn’t been successful.” Benign envy was measured using a five item scale with items such as, “I will try harder to obtain funding for my startup at the next opportunity.” It was found that only mentioning successes resulted in an increase in malicious envy, while mentioning both successes and failures increased benign envy.
Brooks and colleagues’ (2019) work provides valuable information about the effect of revealing failures on reducing malicious envy. It also suggests that sharing failures alongside successes can increase benign envy in listeners and motivate them to work harder. Based on the findings of this study, an educator may consider implementing portions of class times where students share stories of personal success and failures. This study also informs EPIC’s research; we may conduct further research about how revealing failures along with successes affects students’ goal setting.
If you would like to read more about this study, check out this link:
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-11196-001
This post was written by Akhil Kotha.
References:
Brooks, A. W., Huang, K., Abi-Esber, N., Buell, R. W., Huang, L., & Hall, B. (2019). Mitigating malicious envy: Why successful individuals should reveal their failures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(4), 667–687.
van de Ven, N., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2009). Leveling up and down: The experiences of benign and malicious envy. Emotion, 9, 419 – 429. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015669.
van de Ven, N., Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2012). Appraisal patterns of envy and related emotions. Motivation and Emotion, 36, 195–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11031-011-9235-8.
