What would you do, if i get more? an experimental test on the consequences of envy

Abstract

Envy is an unpleasant emotion characterised by the feelings of inferiority, hostility, and resentment produced by an awareness of another person or group of persons who enjoy the desired possession which can motivate the envious person in two different paths, destructive (named malicious envy) and competitive (benign envy). This research presents an experimental design which involves real-effort task to study the quantitative difference between both types of envy. The results show that envy may incentivise subject to do both competitive and destructive things to make them feel better after realising their lower position. The self-position and reference agent position are important for the inferior person since it shows the possibility to improve their satisfaction. Nevertheless, there is no correlation between both types of envy which imply that there is a difference in experiencing both types of envy leading to the different consequences of envy.