Episode 114
Schadenfreude: Why We Relish in the Misfortune of Others
Have you ever experienced unexplainable pleasure at someone else's misfortune? If you have, then you my friend have experienced Schadenfreude. Schadenfreude is made up of two German words Schaden, which means “harm” or “damage,” and Freude, which means “joy.
Researchers have found that there are three driving forces behind schadenfreude: listen in to understand these driving forces behind this universal human emotion.
Drink of the week: Cousin Scotty Fails His Driving Test
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Julie Brown:
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Transcript
at someone else's misfortune?
Speaker:If you have, then you, my friend.
Speaker:Have experienced, shouting for.
Speaker:Welcome to episode one 14 of this shit work podcast, dedicated
Speaker:to all things networking.
Speaker:Relationship building in business development.
Speaker:I'm your host, Julie Brown.
Speaker:And today.
Speaker:We are discussing why we relish in the misfortune of others.
Speaker:This episode is sponsored by Nickerson a full service.
Speaker:Branding marketing PR and communications.
Speaker:Agency with team members in Boston, Los Angeles.
Speaker:Miami and New York city.
Speaker:Visit them at Nickerson COOs.
Speaker:Dot com.
Speaker:Shout and Freud is made up of two German words, Shain, which means.
Speaker:Harm or damage and Freuder, which means joy.
Speaker:So finding joy in someone else's misfortune.
Speaker:The German word was first mentioned in English texts in 1852 and 1867.
Speaker:And then first used in English running text in 1895.
Speaker:Now before 2000 barely any academic articles were published with the
Speaker:word show and Freuder in the title.
Speaker:Now a simple Google search of the word will result in hundreds.
Speaker:From neuroscience to philosophy to management studies.
Speaker:Researchers have found that there are three driving forces.
Speaker:Behind short and Voda, they are aggression.
Speaker:Rivalry and justice.
Speaker:Aggression based shot FOIA, primarily involves group identity.
Speaker:The joy of observing the suffering of others comes from the observer's feeling.
Speaker:That the others failures represent an improvement or validation
Speaker:of their own group status.
Speaker:In relation to external groups, this is essentially shot Florida
Speaker:based on groups versus status.
Speaker:An easy example of this is team sports.
Speaker:Take for example, a study in a laboratory in Wartburg, Germany in 2015.
Speaker:32 football fans.
Speaker:So this would be soccer for us Americans.
Speaker:Agreed to have electromyography pads attached to their faces,
Speaker:which would measure their smiles and frowns while watching TV clips
Speaker:of successful and unsuccessful football penalties by the German
Speaker:team and their archivals, the Dutch.
Speaker:The psychologist found that when the Dutch missed a goal, The Germans fans smiles,
Speaker:appeared more quickly and were broader.
Speaker:Than when the German team scored a gold themselves.
Speaker:So the smiles of short and Freud.
Speaker:Are indistinguishable except in one crucial respect.
Speaker:We smile more with the failure of our enemies.
Speaker:Than at our own success.
Speaker:Rivalry based shot and Vota is individualistic and related
Speaker:to interpersonal competition.
Speaker:It arises from a desire to stand out and outperform one's peers.
Speaker:This is shot Ford based on another person's misfortune, eliciting pleasure.
Speaker:Because the observer now feels better about their personal
Speaker:identity in self-worth instead of their group identity.
Speaker:So according to life science, there is evidence that feelings of shot
Speaker:Freud might start young, perhaps as early as two years of age.
Speaker:And one, 2014 study.
Speaker:Researchers set up experiments to elicit shot and Freud in 24 month olds.
Speaker:In one condition, the scientists asked a mother to read a book to herself while her
Speaker:child and a preschool classmate played.
Speaker:After two minutes, the mom would accidentally.
Speaker:Spill water on the pages of her book.
Speaker:In the second condition test group, the mother would , cuddle
Speaker:her child's friend on her lap.
Speaker:As she read her book, making her own child.
Speaker:Jealous of the attention again at the two minute mark, the mother would
Speaker:spill water on the pages of the book.
Speaker:The researchers found that the jealous kids were more griefful.
Speaker:About this spilled water than the kids who hadn't been primed
Speaker:to experience that jealousy.
Speaker:Justice based shot in Florida.
Speaker:Comes from seeing that behavior seen as a moral or bad is punished.
Speaker:It is the pleasure associated with seeing a bad person being
Speaker:harmed or receiving retribution.
Speaker:Chat him Florida is experienced here because it makes people feel
Speaker:that fairness has been restored.
Speaker:For a previously unpunished wrong and is a type of moral emotion.
Speaker:According to very well mind when then president Trump announced his positive
Speaker:COVID 19 diagnosis in early October, 2020.
Speaker:Miriam Webster reported that shot Freud.
Speaker:Defined as enjoyment of team from the trouble of others.
Speaker:Was its top search.
Speaker:Increasing by.
Speaker:30500%.
Speaker:The president had contracted, the very illness.
Speaker:He had been publicly downplaying.
Speaker:A perfect example of a shot fluoride motivator.
Speaker:Cultural historian, Tiffany Watts Smith, and her book shot him, Florida.
Speaker:The joy of another's misfortune says that shot him.
Speaker:Florida happens for a reason.
Speaker:And when we are willing to look it in the eye, it is easier to ask
Speaker:what prompted it in the first place.
Speaker:Noticing our shot, Florida and understanding why it feels so deliciously
Speaker:satisfying can help us face up to the more excruciating feelings underneath.
Speaker:Common underlying emotions include envy.
Speaker:Anger inferiority feelings related to self-worth.
Speaker:And when Sean Forer becomes our coping mechanism for these.
Speaker:Underlying feelings and emotions.
Speaker:That's when it can become bad.
Speaker:That's when it erodes our ability to empathize with others.
Speaker:According to Tiffany Watts Smith.
Speaker:There are examples of shot Florida in almost every corner of the world.
Speaker:That Japanese have a saying that misfortune of others.
Speaker:Tastes like honey, they're French speak of Joah ma a dialed Bal
Speaker:delight in other people's suffering.
Speaker:In Danish, it's got afraid.
Speaker:In Hebrews SMHA LA.
Speaker:Laed and Russian, I'm gonna butcher this.
Speaker:Slad.
Speaker:Struggle.
Speaker:And I really butcher this one even more.
Speaker:And for the Melanesians who live on the remote.
Speaker:Nissan atoll and Papa new Grinny it's.
Speaker:Ben Benham two millennia ago, the Romans spoke of Melania.
Speaker:Earlier, still the Greeks described.
Speaker:At B char Kaki, literally epi over.
Speaker:Charri rejoice.
Speaker:Kakai disgrace.
Speaker:To see others suffer.
Speaker:Does one good wrote the philosopher, Friedrich NCHA.
Speaker:NIET.
Speaker:They also said, this is a hard saying, but a mighty human.
Speaker:All to human principle.
Speaker:So well, shot Freud is a universal human emotion.
Speaker:It's definitely not the healthiest coping.
Speaker:Strategy available to us.
Speaker:Like anything else in life?
Speaker:Indulgent shot Alfredo with moderation.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So do I have a cocktail for you?
Speaker:As, you know, when looking for a cocktail to go with the theme of
Speaker:an episode, I always just Google the theme and then Google cocktail.
Speaker:So for today I Googled shot in Florida cocktail.
Speaker:And would you believe.
Speaker:There was more than one to choose from, but I chose a slightly different path.
Speaker:I chose this cocktail because of the story behind it.
Speaker:The cocktail of the week is called cousin Scotty fails.
Speaker:His striving test.
Speaker:Created by Brian Bartels as chase sardine.
Speaker:He says, I have a cousin named Scotty he's two years older than me.
Speaker:I was in the same greatest Paul, his little brother, we were smart asses.
Speaker:Scotty was very excited.
Speaker:The day he went to take his driver's test to achieve a legitimate
Speaker:Wisconsin driver's license.
Speaker:I'll never forget when he came back home.
Speaker:It was something I have come to understand.
Speaker:As shot in Florida.
Speaker:Scotty came back.
Speaker:And the first thing we saw was his keys flying across the kitchen
Speaker:and crashing into the wall.
Speaker:He stormed up the upstairs steps with this fist clenched and all Paul and I
Speaker:wanted to do was tease him for failing.
Speaker:This is what our families did best.
Speaker:If I'm not mistaken, it took Scotty three attempts to get his driver's license.
Speaker:My brother, Tim too.
Speaker:And my niece too, as well.
Speaker:So, I guess it runs into family.
Speaker:The recipe for a cousin, Scotty feels is driving.
Speaker:Test goes like this.
Speaker:Unfortunately, Brian partells doesn't give us exact measurements
Speaker:or measurements at all.
Speaker:But he says, here's what you're gonna need.
Speaker:Johnny drum bourbon, Caro, Antarctica, ver.
Speaker:House sake, agave syrup in Angus drawers, bitters.
Speaker:Stirred in a mixing glass and strained over ice into an old fashioned glass
Speaker:and garnished where a wide orange peel.
Speaker:All right friends.
Speaker:If you like this episode, please go on over to iTunes and leave review.
Speaker:Subscribe and share with your friends until next week.
