Guilty Pleasure: Laughing at other people’s pain
We’ve all experienced that guilty—but somewhat delightful—feeling when watching
other people suffer bad luck, from harmless public humiliations to outright disasters.
Should this sound a warning of humanity’s decline? Not quite,
science says.
In a study published at the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,
neuroscience experts Dr. Mina Cikara of Harvard University and Dr. Susan Fiske
of Princeton University said our minds are wired to feel schadenfreude, a German loanword that means “pleasure felt when
another person experiences misfortune.”
However we don’t feel the same level of joy in each instance of failure.
According to the results of an experiment by the National Institute of
Radiological Sciences in Japan, how we react depends on how we feel about the
victim. The way we view ourselves also determines our feelings of
schadenfreude.
Here’s a closer look at what studies tell us about this feeling:
1. A case of self-esteem
The American Psychological Association
published a study which revealed that people with low self-esteem are more
inclined to feel schadenfreude when someone successful undergoes hardship. The
study explained that these people feel threatened by high achievers and often
look for chances to affirm themselves.
2. Rivals at each others’ throats
When Dr. Cikara, Dr. Fiske, and cognitive science expert Dr. Matthew
Botvinick of Princeton University conducted a study on the behavior of Boston
Red Sox and New York Yankees fans, they found out that the opposing team’s
defeat resulted in increased activity in the ventral striatum, a part of the
brain associated with self-pleasure. The same result occurred when fans talked
about their desire to harm supporters of the rival team.
3. Green with envy
Researchers from the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in
Japan conducted an experiment where subjects had to imagine themselves as
protagonists in a social drama. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans
showed that the pain nodes in the subjects’ brains flared when they imagined
encountering characters they envy. The imagined downfall of these characters also
resulted in the activation of their brains’ reward centers.
4. Empathy meets cruelty
An experiment that aimed to measure empathy shows that empathy centers
in men and women’s brains lit up when someone they considered “honest” received
an electric shock. When somebody considered “dishonest” went through pain, participants
had fewer emphatic responses, showed decreased activation in their brains’ pleasure
centers, and expressed desire for revenge.
Why we love failure caught on tape
Past personal experiences may confirm what studies tell us about
schadenfreude, but they also shed light on why we laugh so hard at mishaps caught
on tape.
Shows like Fail Army take viewers on a roller-coaster ride as they watch
hilarious epic fail moments submitted by fans.
This February, the new recruits for Fail Army Season 3 are getting ready
to make you roll over in laughter. From little accidents to catastrophes that
blow out of proportion, Fail Army compiles the best and most amusing fails from
all over the online world.
Catch the brand new season of Fail Army from Mondays to Fridays starting
February 6, 9:30PM, first and exclusive on RTL CBS Extreme.
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