PSYCHOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF SENSE OF ENVY IN THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2312-8437.51.2023-1.1Keywords:
envy, feeling, emotion, experience, motivation, success, failure, psychologyAbstract
One of the most vivid challenges for various classifications of envy is that, strictly speaking, there is a lack of a clearly formulated basis of any specific classification. Envy can be examined consequently, for example, as “good” or “bad” taking into account the methods of its experiencing, its consequences, motivations of envious individual, as well as moral judgments, cultural values and stereotypes related to this experiencing. Many researchers of envy agree that it is an unpleasant emotion, studying in particular psychological reactions and consequences for human life. Some authors, particularly in social and organizational psychology, underline that basis for classification of envy is not its unpleasant experiencing by individuals, but rather its intrapsychic and external (in relation to an individual) consequences, or how envious individuals and/or their surroundings react on one’s own envy. In our work we considered differences in approaches of various scientific disciplines in relation to envy. In some schools of academic thought envy is examined mainly as undesirable emotion, while others are inclined to acknowledge its as desirable together with undesirable aspects; at least in a few disciplines (evolutional psychology and marketing) envy is considered foremost as a desirable emotion. Also we have demonstrated differences in research perspectives within the limits of psychological disciplines: some researchers examine envy as hostile emotion, while others consider that there are two types of envy, of good quality and malignant one. Some scientists mention that there is only one main type of envy, which however can result in various behavioral and social reactions, depending on several internal (intrapsychic) and external factors. One of key ideas of our work is that look on envy as an emotion which can be desirable or undesirable, is not fundamentally new. However, it should be clear that although ambivalent nature of envy was noted by different authors yet from ancient times, only within the framework of modern psychological research of this emotion scientists clearly and explicitly substantiate the existence of several different types of envy.
References
Anderson, R. W. (1997). The envious will to power. The Journal of Analytical Psychology, 42, 363–382. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-5922.1997.00363.x.
Berman, A. (2007). Envy at the cross-road between destruction, self-actualization, and avoidance. In L. Navaro & S. L. Schwartzbcrg, Eds., Envy, Competition, and Gender: Theory, Clinical Applications and Group Work (pp. 17–32). New York : Routlcdge / Taylor & Francis Group.
Crusius, J., & Mussweiler, T. (2012). When people want what others have: The impulsive side of envious desire. Emotion, 12, 142–153. doi: 10.1037/a0023523.
Delpriore, D. J., Hill, S. E., & Buss, D. M. (2012). Envy: Functional specificity and sex-differentiated design features. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 317–322. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.03.029.
Garay, J., & Mоri, T. F. (2011). Is envy one of the possible evolutionary roots of charity? Biosystems, 106, 28–35. doi: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2011.06.004.
Hamman, J. J. (2013). The memory of feeling: Envy and happiness. Pastoral Psychology. doi: 10.1007/sl1089-013-0555-3.
Harris, C. R., & Salovey, P. (2008). Reflections on envy. In R. H. Smith, Ed., Envy: Theory and Research (pp. 33–356). New York : Oxford University Press.
Klein, M. (1957). Envy and Gratitude: A Study of Unconscious Sources. New York : Basic Books.
Leach, C. W. (2008). Envy, inferiority, and injustice: Three bases of anger about inequality. In R. H. Smith, Ed., Envy: Theory and Research (pp. 94–116). New York : Oxford University Press.
Miceli, M., & Castelfranchi, C. (2002). The mind and the future: The (negative) power of expectations. Theory and Psychology, 12, 335–366.
Palaver, W. (2005). Envy or emulation: A Christian understanding of economic passions. In W. Palaver & P. Steinmair-Poscl, Eds., Passions in Economy, Politics, and the Media (pp. 139–162). Vienna : Lit Vcrlag.
Parrott, W. G. (1991). The emotional experiences of envy and jealousy. In P. Salovey, Ed., The Psychology of Jealousy and Envy (pp. 3–30). New York : The Guilford Press.
