Schadenfreud. Morrissey nailed it when he wrote the song “We Hate It When Our Friends Get Hit” and you know what – I agree with him.

There’s an immediate, warm sense of satisfaction when someone you know doesn’t get that important promotion, breaks up with their partner, or finds out it rained on the vacation they’ve been looking forward to all year.

This is Schadenfreude, but why do some of us feel it and what does it say about us?

What is schadenfreude?

I’ll admit it – I get great pleasure from other people’s misfortunes. But what’s wrong with me? I’m usually a nice person, or so I thought. It’s just because I get this delicious feeling of happiness in my stomach when things go wrong for others. It’s like a reflex, a gut reaction. I can’t help it.

This perverted feeling is Schadenfreude, and I bet I’m not the only one secretly happy when others suffer.

“Whenever a friend succeeds, something small in me dies.” Gore Vidal

Schadenfreude is a German word and is made up of the words “Schaden” meaning harm or harm, and “Freude” meaning joy. So Schadenfreude means happiness at someone’s harm.

“Now that I’m older, I realize that it’s not enough for most of us to have personal success. One’s best friend must have failed, too.” Somerset Maugham

Why do some of us feel so complacent about the misfortunes of others? Are we just spiteful and bad people? Do we rejoice in every unfortunate thing that happens to others? I was trying to go back to the last time I gloated and what triggered it. And in fact, I’m starting to understand it.

I don’t feel happy when something terrible happens to someone I love. This is not Schadenfreude for me. For me, to feel that smugness, that little relief, the hapless person must do something to justify his downfall. This is what gives me a sense of schadenfreude.

Examples of gloating

I’ll give you some examples of schadenfreude:
Kim Kardashian shows off her massive new diamond ring on Instagram and then gets robbed two days later.

UK reality “star” Lauren Goodyear was slammed on social media after her edited Instagram photo was seen completely different from a TV interview two weeks later.

Footballer Wayne Rooney was later caught extolling the virtues of marriage while visiting prostitutes.

Justin Bieber has been arrested on multiple charges including a DUI after his childish behavior of throwing eggs at fans with impunity.

Public humiliation of Big Brother star Jade Goody after being featured on TV by actress Shilpa Shetty.

Why do we experience this dark emotional state?
So what do experts think are the important factors behind schadenfreude? There are four possible explanations:

Feelings: The envy and resentment we feel towards the other person reflect feelings of jealousy and inadequacy.
Justice: A sense of punishment that the other person deserved the misfortune and now that justice is being restored.
Identity: A group identity that helps a person feel that schadenfreude fits in with laughing at strangers.
Social comparison: We judge our lives by how well others are doing. If they are worse, we feel better.
These factors lead experts to believe that there are three types of schadenfreude:

Aggression-based – satisfaction when another group fails, making you feel better about your group.
Competitive Rivalry – individual competition and the desire to stand out from the crowd.

Justice-based – a sense of justice being done and bad behavior being punished.
Schadenfreude studies
Studies show that if you make your kids jealous beforehand, even babies as young as nine months old can experience schadenfreude.

For example, in 2013, in one study, researchers put on a puppet show for nine-month-old babies. Some dolls “liked” the same food that babies enjoy, while other dolls did not.

Then some dolls “harmed” other dolls. The results showed that the babies preferred to see the dolls that did not like the same food that hurt them rather than the ones that did not.

Another study examined schadenfreude among peers. A mother read a book out loud in the first scenario and accidentally “poured” a glass of water on herself while two children were watching.

In the second scenario, she called one of the children on her lap and then read the book while the second child watched. Then I accidentally “poured” the water again. The results showed jealousy in children who were not invited to sit on the mother’s lap.

In a third study, results showed that four-year-olds showed signs of Schadenfreud if the child had been previously terrified.

Feeling happy about someone else’s misfortune seems to start at an early age. But what is the point?
Are those who feel it psychopathic monsters? Mina Secara is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. She studied schadenfreude and how it relates to empathy and human emotions:

“Schadenfreude is a very human experience. Even when there is no tangible benefit to the observer or greater social justice is being offered, [others’] misfortunes are pleasant in part because they make people feel better about themselves.” Mina Secara

Cikara believes that the main reason we feel this way is that in order to feel good about ourselves, we compare ourselves to others.

This very idea came up that day. I was watching a TV show called Perception. The main character is neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Pearce. He is a lecturer in psychology. In one episode he asked his class a question;

“Would you rather get a B+ and everyone else in your class get an A?”

or

“Would you rather get a B- and everyone else in your class gets a C?”

In the program, the majority chose a B grade. Why? Because we value ourselves versus our peers. We want to do better than them. But as Dr. Pearce said, why would anyone want a lower score? Doesn’t that B+ sound better on your resume? She goes so far as to help explain schadenfreude.

“If I compare myself to others and find I’m not as good as [they] are, I’m more likely to be happy when they’re taken down a bit.” Sicara

Of course, just like in life, it’s usually a bunch of things that cause a feeling. We are complex beings after all.
Colin Wayne Leach is Professor of Psychological Studies at the University of Connecticut. declares:

“Sometimes more than one of these things cause schadenfreude at the same time — we can gloat over someone because we hate them, they are competitors and their loss is our gain.”