Self Evaluation

1. Summary

Ferris and colleagues propose an altered conceptualization of CSEs whereby high CSE people are more methodology centered and low CSE people are more evasion oriented. In an observational trial of this conceptualization, Ferris and associates (2013) found that (1) approach motivation intervened the CSE– work satisfaction relationship and (2 motivation towards on satisfaction was observed to be more grounded when achievement was low (versus high). This proposes people with high CSEs are more approach oriented than those with low CSEs and that those with low CSEs have a greater amount of an avoidance orientation and are probably going to encounter altogether more occupational disappointment when they are performing ineffectively.

2. Style

The paper is elegantly composed and is powerful in imparting its thoughts basically portraying how accomplishment of various sorts of objectives is influenced by logical and dispositional factors. the length of sentences differs with the paper approaching towards longer sentences, however, it has long paragraphs as consisting of a plenty of information. The language is more technical and formal which makes the overall understanding slightly complex. The article format is followed by APA format.

3. Abstract

It is clear from the abstract part of the article that the problem being addressed in it is not a simple issue and a few paragraphs in the beginning are slightly technical to understand. However, the abstract summarizes the whole appraoch in a small paragraph to give a reader about the purpose of this article, what methodology and experiments have been used and what are the findings. So, the findings are summarized in a very concise way in order to keep the reader engaged.

4. Topic Choice

The setting of work has changed extensively in the course of the most recent couple of decades. Industrial and institutional change have showed themselves in crucial moves in the word related and pay structures crosswise over most created nations, bringing about a close crumple in center talented occupations (administrative, producing) and a development in high-gifted ones (logical, administrative). Satisfaction and Success have diverse implications inside and out yet it is specifically identified with one another as without progress we can’t be fulfilled towards our work or life .So both are similarly vital in our life .

Combined with clearing patterns in workplaces, inclines in pay-setting uncover a significant increment in the occurrence of performance based pay and a close fall in by and large set pay in the course of the most recent couple of decades (Williams & Gardiner, 2015). These patterns are set to proceed unabated. Research has since quite a while ago featured how certain non-intellectual capacities (personality qualities) are helpful for accomplishment in the work market. In this report, they have presented a suggestive confirmation on how the association between non-psychological characteristics with profit may reinforce in the the idea of ‘core self-evaluation’ (CSEs) – a settled model of personality attributes in organizational psychology.

5. Introduction

Core self-evaluations (CSE; Judge, Locke, and Durham, 1997) speaks to a latent build representing the mutual difference among four self-evaluative attributes: confidence, summed up selfefficacy, passionate steadiness, and locus of control (Judge, Erez, Bono, and Thoresen, 2003). Characterized as ‘essential appraisals that individuals make about their value, ability, and capacities’ (Judge, Bono, Erez, and Locke, 2005, p. 257), CSE was proposed to represent dispositional consequences for work satisfaction. In such manner, CSE has demonstrated effective, with thinks about supporting the connection of CSE with work satisfaction (Brown, Ferris, Heller, and Keeping, 2007; Chang, Ferris, Johnson, Rosen, and Tan, 2012).

Taking note of that a great part of the CSE writing draws upon approach and shirking—or affectability toward positive and negative upgrades, separately—Ferris and partners (Chang et al., 2012; Ferris et al., 2011) proposed conceptualizing CSE from a methodology/evasion point of view, contending that high CSE people will probably receive approach inspiration introductions and less inclined to embrace shirking inspiration introductions (Johnson, Djurdjevic, Rosen, & Chang, 2012).

The introduction essentially drives the reader from a general branch of knowledge to a specific theme of topic. It is building up the scope, setting, and effectiveness of the analysis being directed by abridging momentum understandong and foundation data about the topic, expressing the motivation behind the work as the research problem upheld by a theory or an arrangement of inquiries, clarifying quickly the organizational methodology used to analyze the research problem, featuring the potential results your research can uncover, and plotting the rest of the structure and link of the paper (PATEL, 07). So, the introduction of this paper does not meet this criterai however, the topic of the paper is well explained in this section.

6. Theory Section/Literature Review/Hypotheses

The nature and force of hedonic experiences get from motivational procedures (Carver and Scheier, 1998), with Higgins (1997, 2001) contending hedonic experiences emerge as an element of two separate components. The first is whether one has a methodology or avoidance inspiration introduction (i.e., advancement or aversion center at the vital level, from this point forward alluded to as approach/shirking inspiration introduction), while the second is encountering achievement or disappointment (i.e., regardless of whether one is doing great in the significant motivational area).

Together, these two elements decide the force of the positive or negative tone related with the hedonic experience. This examination holds suggestions for how CSE may identify with work satisfaction through its impacts on approach/evasion motivational introductions toward one’s activity. Reliable with the HMAAM and past work (Ferris et al., 2011), we anticipated that high CSE people would probably embrace approach motivation introductions and less inclined to receive avoidance motivation introductions (and the other way around for low CSE people).

Reliable with RFT, this forecast recommends that the impacts of CSE on work satisfaction are intervened by the communication of progress at work with the methodology and shirking inspiration introductions toward work encouraged by CSE. In the event that hedonic force is augmented when increases and misfortunes are available, at that point satisfaction ought to be most influenced when approach-arranged representatives encounter accomplishment at work (i.e., a gain) and when evasion situated representatives encounter disappointment (i.e., a misfortune) (Johnson, Djurdjevic, Rosen, & Chang, 2012).

the literature review and theoratical part, and hypothesis in this article are very well formulated. They have been put together considering all the requirements of the topic as well as the background of the research. Literature review efficiently supports the topic and proves the arguments made in this research. The hypothesis are also interesting and according to the criteria of making hypothesis.

7. Discussion

The discussion part of this article has been done very efficiently considering all the results achieved in the analysis section and the researcher’s own opinion. Despite the fact that methodology/shirking components have been necessary to hypothesizing with respect to the connection of CSE to work satisfaction. To date no investigations have been led with approach and evasion as go betweens of CSE’s impact on work satisfaction. The researchers have utilized this methodology/shirking viewpoint on CSE as a beginning stage and expanded it by coordinating expectations from the HMAAM and RFT. One potential clarification for this finding may lie in the idea of the hedonic encounters created by the two communications (Johnson, Djurdjevic, Rosen, & Chang, 2012).

Specifically, thinks about have demonstrated that albeit effectively accomplishing a methodology objective produces more serious positive hedonic encounters in people (Idson et al., 2000), adverse feelings have a greater amount of an effect on assessments, (for example, work satisfaction) than do constructive feelings. Therefore, the connection between evasion objectives and achievement may largerly affect work satisfaction than the collaboration between approach objectives and achievement. Then again, the collaboration between approach introduction and achievement may essentially not sum up outside test settings to the field; assuming genuine, this finding would speak to a critical commitment to inquire about on this communication impact, which has been restricted to lab settings.

References

1. Johnson, R. E., Djurdjevic, E., Rosen, C. C., & Chang, C.-H. (2012). When Is Success Not Satisfying? Integrating Regulatory Focus and Approach/Avoidance Motivation Theories to Explain the Relation Between Core Self-Evaluation and Job Satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology , 342–35.
2. PATEL, N. (07, 2016 26). A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Compelling Article Introduction. Retrieved from https://www.quicksprout.com/2016/07/25/a-step-by-step-guide-to-writing-a-compelling-article-introduction/
3. Williams, D. M., & Gardiner, D. E. (2015). The Power of Personality in the ‘New Economy’: Core Self Evaluations and Earnings in the United Kingdom . Retrieved from CIPD Applied Research Conference : https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/power-of-personality-in-the-new-economy_2015_tcm18-15588.pdf

We are a generation of social media hungry people, everywhere you look, everything you hear is about what various people posted on a day to day basis, it never ends. A reason for this is because in this day in age, social media has become an integral part of our society, it almost seems like we could not function without it.

Social media has its ups and downs, but the negatives outweigh the positives to a degree. Social media has a negative impact on people in many ways. Many studies have shown that comparing oneself to people on social media can have a detrimental effect on a person’s mentality, including low self-esteem, depression and dissatisfaction with one’s appearance. This paper will confirm that more time spent on social networking sites, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook etc. can have a negative affect on one’s self-esteem. More specifically, more time spent viewing other’s profiles, with their statuses and pictures, increases risk of serious low-self-esteem. (Chen & Lee, 2013).

Nowadays it takes one click to enter a whole new world which is Social Media. It is an integral part of millions of people’s daily routine. Social media has an immense impact not only on how we interact with one another, but how we perceive ourselves. Whether it be a positive impact, or a negative impact is a question that will be answered in this paper. Now two researchers named Amy L. Gonzales and Jeffery T. Hancock joined in effort to see the effect of Facebook exposure on self-esteem.

Their research provides two approaches that are relevant to the influence of social media on people’s self-confidence: the objective self-awareness theory and the selective self-presentation theory. Gonzales and Hancock claim that in an objective self-awareness state, “people are prone to self-evaluations based on broader social standards and norms,” which often leads to “a greater sense of humility, or downgraded ratings of self.” (page 4). Social media serves as a stimulus that allows its users to form their own standards based on the information they are exposed to online, and consequently compare themselves to those standards (Gonzales and Hancock, 2011).

Research has indicated that more time spent on Facebook is related to low self-esteem. It appears that the more time that is spent online leads to a decline in face-to-face communication with family and peers which can lead to feelings of loneliness and depression (Chen & Lee, 2013). This is evident when you consider the fact that the more time a person spends time on social media, the more they feel like they are missing out (FOMO) they start to isolate themselves from others and start to be obsessed with the fact that they don’t have what others may be having online.

The problem with this is that most of the time those people who supposedly have perfect lives online tend to just post the highlight reals from their lives and people that are constantly online looking for new feed to indulge themselves with find that they compare themselves to these “perfect” things that they are seeing online. Since people can manage their posts on social networking sites, they can choose to present information that positively affect their image, and filter out undesirable information (Gonzales and Hancock, 2011). This can be a severe problem, especially for those people who have low self-esteem because they are not emotionally stable.

For some, social media is a place where they need self-validation and self-evaluation. There was a study conducted by The University of Gothenburg in Sweden, which surveyed 335 men and 676 women. The study found that there was a negative relationship between the use of Facebook and self-esteem. One possible explanation was that since social media has made it easier for people  to get a glimpse of others’ personal lives, it is unavoidable that its users will compare themselves to their connections on the Internet. This comparison often draws people’s attention to their own limitations, thus lowers the confidence in themselves (Angie Zuo, 2014).

A study done by Vogel states that; After the questionnaires were collected certain interviews were conducted and people were asked the reason for which they use Facebook and whether they make social comparisons on Facebook or not. According to the results approximately 88% people engage in making social comparisons on Facebook and out of the 88%, 98% of the comparisons are upward social comparisons. It has been observed that upward comparisons make people feel inferior and have negative evaluations of themselves (Vogel, Rose, Roberts and Eckles, 2014).

Humans are creatures that love to compare themselves with others, we possess the fundamental drive to do this. Recent studies have found that frequent Facebook users believe that other users  are happier and more successful, especially when they do not know them very well offline. So, people are comparing their realistic offline selves to the idealized online selves of others, which can be detrimental to well-being and self-evaluation (Chou & Edge, 2012).

Many people have fallen victim to this, and it’s very hard not to. We live in a world where it almost feels inevitable that we will be comparing ourselves to others online, it’s all about the way you perceive it. For some, they can look and right away just know that obviously, people aren’t always having an enjoyable time and understand that everyone has problems. However; there are others that will focus intently on these things and become obsessed with it, which can ultimately give you lower self-esteem.

Studies have also shown that high usage of social media can result in depression; Many researchers have concluded from there researches that high usage of Facebook causes depression and decreased prosperity in individuals  As most people do not use Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter for their emotions or moods; they use Facebook to overcome their loneliness but only end being less satisfied with their lives (Chou and Edge, 2012) Chou and Edge have also concluded that people who use Facebook or Instagram frequently have a very firm belief that other users, who they don’t know very well offline, are living a very healthy, happy and prosperous life than themselves.

These assumptions about other peoples’ lives cause depression amongst individuals. According to Chou and Edge, when people see happy posts by their connections on Facebook, they can easily jump to conclusion that others are always happy and enjoying their lives without considering the certain situations that make them happy. This can really take a toll on some unstable people that always think that people have no problems whatsoever and are always going on vacations and having an enjoyable time all the time.

There are some things with this topic that relate to me in so many ways, an example from my life was when I would always feel like I needed to post a lot of pictures in order to get the most likes, I even went as far as getting fake likes for my pictures in the past, this was something that really gave me super low self-esteem because I knew deep down inside that I was  screwing around with myself, giving myself likes that I knew were not authentic.

The problem with this was that I was already getting enough likes, I just wanted more, I was trying to “Keep up with the Joneses” as some people would say. This goes to say that social media can have a detrimental effect on society if used for the wrong reasons which can ultimately have affect a person mentally and physically.

In conclusion, Social Media is something that can be very good for us, but at the end of the day, the risks of using too much of it is just too much.

Abstract

Schadenfreude toward an individual may be affected by self-esteem and positive or negative feedback. Previous research by Brambilla and Riva (2017) suggests that individuals report being more satisfied when a someone else’s hindrance happened while performing a competitive task more so than while performing a noncompetitive task. Extending this research, the present study observes whether the failure of a successful undergraduate student will enhance participants’ feelings of schadenfreude.

Participants will perform a simple calculation task (Educational Testing Service, 1962), and then receive positive or negative feedback concerning the calculation task prior to taking the State Self-Esteem Scale (1991) and reading a resumé and interview that will show a successful undergraduate student being criticized about a recent exam performance. After reading the interview, participants will complete items related to schadenfreude (Brambilla, 2017). It is hypothesized that the level of schadenfreude toward another undergraduate student will be highest when the participant receives negative feedback and lowest when receiving positive feedback. The results will be discussed and future research instructions will be given.

People may feel many different things in spite of others’ suffering. They might relate to or express feelings of understanding towards those suffering or they experience schadenfreude — feeling happiness at others’ hardships (Heider, 1958). But why do people feel joy in spite of another’s misery? In his article, “The Laws of Emotion,” Frijda (1988) argues that “[…] Emotions arise in response to events that are important to the individual’s goals, motives, or concerns” (p. 349).

Previous studies commonly show the targets of schadenfreude as others that resemble oneself in an area of mutual curiosity (Watanabe, 2016). For example, for undergraduate students, objects of schadenfreude may include a successful peer failing an important exam, a competitor for the same scholarship suffering a bad performance in an interview, or a student with strong intellectual and leadership abilities suffering a setback (Feather & Sherman, 2002; Hareli & Weiner, 2002). The present research investigates the relationships between self-esteem, self-evaluation, and schadenfreude. Van Dijk, van Koningsbrugen, Ouwerkerk, and Wessling (2011) investigated the assumptions that misfortunes happening to others can provide people with self-protection or self-enhancement opportunities.

The researchers conducted two studies that examined self-protection and self-enhancement by investigating the relationships between self-esteem, self-affirmation, and schadenfreude. In Study 1, the researchers hypothesized that participants with low self-esteem would experience more schadenfreude mediated by the self-threat that the high achiever evoked in the low self-esteem participants. The participants included 70 undergraduate men and women who were told that they would take part in two unrelated studies. The first study assessed self-esteem with the State Self-Esteem Scale.

In the second study, the participants were read two interviews that introduced a high-achieving student who suffered a misfortune. Before the participants read the second interview, the participants assessed their feelings of self-threat evoked by the high-achieving student with three statements. After reading both interviews, the participants’ schadenfreude towards this misfortune was assessed with five statements and sympathy towards this misfortune was assessed with three statements.

In Study 2, the researchers hypothesized that the indirect relationship of self-esteem with schadenfreude would be moderated by the low self-esteem participants’ opportunity for self-affirmation. The participants included 42 undergraduate men and women who were told that they would take part in several unrelated studies. These studies identified the participants’ most and least important values through the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values and the participants’ self-affirmation was assessed through one of the AVL-subscales.

The participants’ feelings of self-threat, schadenfreude, and sympathy were assessed using the same statements as in Study 1. The two studies demonstrated that self-esteem has a negative relationship with schadenfreude toward a high achiever and that this relationship was mediated by the self-threat evoked by this high achiever.

This indirect relationship was contingent on an opportunity to affirm the self. When no self-affirmation opportunity was available, participants with low self-esteem experienced a stronger self-threat when confronted with a high achiever. This feeling of self-threat increased the participants’ schadenfreude. However, the schadenfreude response was weakened when the participants were given an opportunity to self-affirm. These findings indicate that the misfortunes of others can induce schadenfreude because the findings provide people with an opportunity to protect or enhance their self-views.

Subscribing to the notion that self-esteem and schadenfreude are related, Watanabe (2016) investigated whether observing the failure of another individual and experiencing schadenfreude enhances self-esteem. The researcher hypothesized that the level of schadenfreude felt by the participants toward a stranger would be highest in the negative feedback group and lowest in the positive feedback group. Watanabe (2016) also predicted that participants in each feedback group would show stronger schadenfreude toward a stranger of the opposite sex.

The researcher conducted two studies. Study 1 consisted of 24 undergraduate men and women. Two video clips were taken from a DVD of the American Idol TV program. One clip featured a male target and the other clip featured a female target. Participants individually watched the first video clip showing the audition applicant’s misfortune (severe criticism by the judges) and then evaluated four schadenfreude-related items using a 5-point scale. Participants then watched the second clip and provided responses to the same questions as for the first clip. The results of a two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) concluded that the two video clips depicted criticism of the applicants and were equivalent other than the sex of the target.

Study 2, which used the video clips examined in Study 1, tested the effects of self-evaluation threat on schadenfreude experienced by participants with low self-esteem. The participants included 87 undergraduate men and women. Participants were randomly assigned either to the negative feedback group, the positive feedback group, or the control group, which received no feedback. First, participants performed a simple calculation task for 2 minutes.

During a 2-minute relaxation period, the experimenter went behind a screen to pretend to grade the task. The researcher then provided the negative feedback group with a low percentile ranking on the calculation task. Participants then completed the State Self-Esteem Scale. After completing the questionnaire, participants watched the first video clip and answered the schadenfreude-related questions. Participants then watched the second clip and provided responses to the same items as for the first clip. The findings indicated that neither self-evaluation threat nor positive feedback was related to the level of schadenfreude toward strangers.

Brambilla and Riva (2017) further investigated whether observing the failure of another individual and experiencing schadenfreude affects self-esteem. The researchers hypothesized that feeling joy at another’s suffering would increase participants’ self-esteem, control, belongingness, and meaningful existence. The researchers conducted four studies. Experiment 1 consisted of 68 undergraduates. Participants were asked to imagine being involved in a job interview. Next, participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions.

In the competitive condition, participants learned that a former university colleague with whom they had been in competition with had also been selected for the job interview. Moreover, the other candidate was described as having high potential for achievement and a strong likelihood of being offered the job. In the non-competitive condition, participants learned that a former university colleague had been selected for a job interview to fill a job position unrelated to the participant’s position. After reading this description, participants were asked to indicate how they might feel if they were in the situation described in the vignette.

In particular, participants indicated the extent to which they would experience schadenfreude. Participants provided all of their responses on 7-point scales, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely). Participants also indicated their levels of self-esteem, control, belongingness, and meaningful existence on 5-point scales, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely). The results of a t-test and MANOVA indicated that participants reported more schadenfreude when a misfortune occurred in a competitive circumstance rather than in a non-competitive circumstance.

Experiment 2 was designed to replicate the findings of Experiment 1 by considering real situations. The researchers recruited 81 undergraduates for an experimental design subdivided into two groups. As a cover story, participants were asked to participant in a study aimed at defining the memory abilities to remember past events. In the competitive condition, participants were asked to type in a text box the description of an experience in which they were in competition with a peer who suffered a misfortune.

In the non-competitive condition, participants wrote about an experience in which a peer suffered a misfortune. Next, participants were asked to indicate the extent to which they felt schadenfreude during the recalled circumstance. Participants provided all of their responses on the same 7-point scales as used in Experiment 1. Finally, participants indicated how they felt about the recalled episode in terms of self-esteem, control, belongingness, and meaningful existence using the 5-point scales employed in Experiment 1. The results indicated that the more the participants felt joy at another’s misfortune, the more he or she reported a high satisfaction of basic human needs.

Experiment 3 was designed to test the hypothesis by going beyond recalled events and involving a real online interaction. This experiment consisted of 43 undergraduates for an experimental design subdivided into two groups. Participants were told that they would play a game on reaction times with an opponent. The winner of each game would win money. In the competitive condition, a message appeared saying that the participant’s opponent could not be connected to the game due to a technical problem with the computer. The technical problem represented a clear misfortune because the opponent lost the chance to win the money.

In the non-competitive condition, a similar message reported that one of the two players of the other set of opponents could not be logged on. The experimenter informed the participants that they would have to stop until the issue is managed, as all players should be connected before proceeding. Participants were then asked to indicate how they felt in terms of self-esteem, control, belongingness, and meaningful existence using the same items and scales employed in Experiments 1 and 2. No measure of schadenfreude was included. The findings confirmed that a misfortune that occurred to a competitor in a real online interaction elicited schadenfreude and increased self-esteem, control, belongingness, and meaningful existence.

Lastly, Experiment 4 was designed to test whether the effects found in the previous experiments arise from a misfortune that benefits the observer. The researchers recruited 73 undergraduates for an experimental design that was subdivided into two groups. In the competitive condition, participants learned that a former university colleague, with whom they have had competition with, has been selected for a job interview. Differently from Experiment 1, the participant was not involved in the job interview and did not compete directly with the other individual to get the job.

In the non-competitive condition, participants learned that a former university colleague has been selected for a job interview to fill a job position. In this condition, the researchers did not mention that the participant and the target person have been in competition in the past. Next, the participants learned that the other person missed the job interview due to a car accident. Participants’ reactions to this misfortune were assessed in terms of schadenfreude, self-esteem, control, belongingness, and meaningful existence following the same procedure as the previous three experiments. The findings indicated that a misfortune that occurred to a competitor increased schadenfreude and the fulfillment of basic needs, even when the misfortune was not advantageous for the observer.

Abell and Brewer (2018) included another factor in their study on schadenfreude. This study investigated the relationship between Machiavellianism, envy, competition, and schadenfreude in women’s same-sex friendships. 133 women aged 18-30 years were recruited via online research websites and social networking sites. Participants responded to three vignettes measuring schadenfreude with a same-sex friend and completed scales related to Machiavellianism, envy, and competition. After reading the vignettes, participants rated on a 7-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), the extent to which they felt amused, satisfied, pleased, and sympathetic. Participants’ Machiavellianism was then measured using the Mach IV (Christie & Geis, 1970).

The measure contains 20 items rated on a 7-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating higher levels of Machiavellianism. Next, participants’ envy was measured using the Dispositional Envy Scale (Smith et al., 1999). The measure contains eight items rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating higher levels of envy. The items were adapted to reflect feelings of envy toward a friend.

Lastly, competition was measured using the Interpersonal Competition Index (Singleton & Vacca, 2007). The measure contains seven items assessing general completion and competition within specific domains. Participants responded on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Three of the statements were adapted from the Singleton and Vacca (2007) as the questionnaire was intended for college students and concentrated on school grades. Results indicated that Machiavellianism did not predict envy and competition, but schadenfreude did predict envy and competition.

People with low self-esteem often criticize themselves when they fail and are vulnerable to negative feedback (Brown & Dutton, 1995). Considering that schadenfreude is associated with the maintenance of self-evaluation or self-enhancement, it is predicted that the level of schadenfreude toward another undergraduate student will be highest when the participant receives negative feedback and lowest when receiving positive feedback. Furthermore, because there is evidence in studies on schadenfreude that is consistent with self-enhancement opportunities, schadenfreude should increase when people’s motivation to self-enhance becomes greater, whereas it should decrease when this motivation weakens.

Method

Participants

A sample of male and female undergraduate students will be obtained from psychology classes at Xavier University. Participation will be voluntary and the study will be completed for course credit.

Procedure

Participants will be randomly divided into two groups. Each group will complete a 60-item calculation task, adapted from the Educational Testing Service (1962). The calculation task is divided into two parts, each containing 30 simple addition problems (i.e., 12 + 5 + 67). Participants will have two minutes to complete Part 1 of the task and two minutes to complete Part 2 of the task. Upon completion of the calculation task, the test will be collected by the researcher. The researcher will grade the tests for accuracy.

The researcher will record the participants’ test scores on a slip of paper along with a percentile ranking relative to the other participants in the room. Regardless of participant scores, the participants will be assigned either an extremely high ranking (75th percentile) or an extremely low ranking (25th percentile). The participants will be handed the slips of paper showing their actual score on the test and their assigned ranking.

The participants will then complete the State Self-Esteem Scale (1991) in order to measure their self-esteem after receiving positive or negative feedback on the calculation task (i.e., I feel confident about my abilities; I feel frustrated or rattled about my performance; I feel self-conscious; I feel as smart as others; I feel displeased with myself). They will be asked to indicate the extent of their agreement with the listed 20 items on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Next, the participants will receive a resumé of an academically and socially successful student. They will also be given a written script showing a conversation between the student and the student’s professor.

In the script, the professor will be giving the student negative feedback regarding the student’s poor performance on a recent exam. After the participants read the resumé and the script, they will complete a questionnaire measuring their level of schadenfreude felt toward the student (Bramilla & Riva, 2017). They will be asked to indicate the extent to which they felt schadenfreude during the recalled circumstance (i.e., I enjoyed what happened to that person; I couldn’t resist a little smile; What happened to that person amused me; I was happy about what happened). Participants will provide all of their responses to the four items on a 7-point scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely). After the completion of the study, the participants will be given a demographics form asking them to provide information about their sex, age, and class year.

Results

A t-test will be conducted to evaluate the effect of participant self-esteem and positive or negative test feedback on schadenfreude felt towards a successful student.

Discussion

In this study, it is expected that the level of schadenfreude toward another undergraduate student will be highest when the participant receives negative feedback and lowest when receiving positive feedback. The predicted main effect of schadenfreude in this study would further support previous research, emphasizing self-affirmation opportunity in relation to self-esteem and high achievers and self-evaluation threat among feedback groups (van Dijk, van Koningsbruggen, Ouwerkerk, & Wesseling, 2011; Watanabe, 2016).

Like prior studies, the predicted results of this study will emphasize the degree to which feelings of schadenfreude are present towards people who encounter misfortunes related to the reception of positive or negative feedback and self-esteem (Watanabe, 2016). Consistent with previous research, no study has examined schadenfreude and self-esteem among undergraduate peer groups when receiving positive or negative feedback.

A limitation of this study is the use of a written resumé and script of a student. The degree of receptivity that reading these items have on the participants may be lesser than if presented with a video clip. Second, schadenfreude may not be reported honestly because feeling joy as a result of others’ misfortunes is generally seen as socially undesirable. In order to address this issue, new ways to measure schadenfreude behaviorally (e.g., measuring participants’ behavioral reactions to observing the misfortune of others’ in a private experimental room) should be developed. Lastly, the importance of obtaining information from the surrounding environment before and after misfortunes are observed may be a neglected variable because the resumé and script will describe only a limited part of the background of the student and the interaction of the student with a professor.

Future research should further investigate the psychological consequences of schadenfreude by considering different human needs and a greater variety of responses. It would be beneficial to investigate the long-term effects of schadenfreude on self-image, even taking into consideration how positive and negative feedback affect an individual’s self-esteem and feelings of schadenfreude over time. Future research could also usefully consider the relationships among self-evaluation threat, characteristics of the targets of schadenfreude, and environmental information. Clearly, more research is needed to further investigate the influence of schadenfreude on peer relationships, and this data will likely be a step on that path.

References

1. Abell, L., & Brewer, G. (2018). Machiavellianism and schadenfreude in women’s friendships. Psychological Reports, 121(5), 909-919.
2. Brambilla, M., & Riva, P. (2017). Self‐image and schadenfreude: Pleasure at others’ misfortune enhances satisfaction of basic human needs. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47(4), 399-411.
3. Christie, R., & Geis, F. L. (1970). Studies in Machiavellianism. London, England: Academic Press.
4. Frijda, N. H. (2007). The laws of emotion. Mahwah, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007. Retrieved from http://libproxy.xu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01905a&AN=ohiolink.b25023115&site=eds-live&scope=site
5. Heatherton, T.F. & Polivy, J. (1991). Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 895-910.
6. Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York, Wiley [1958]. Retrieved from http://libproxy.xu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01903a&AN=xav.b1121514&site=eds-live&scope=site
7. Singleton, R. A. Jr., & Vacca, J. (2007). Interpersonal competition in friendships. Sex Roles, 57, 617–627.
8. Smith, R. H., Parrott, W. G., Diener, E. F., Hoyle, R. H., & Kim, S. H. (1999). Dispositional envy scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 1070–1020.
9. van Dijk, W. W., van Koningsbruggen, G. M., Ouwerkerk, J. W., & Wesseling, Y. M. (2011). Self-esteem, self-affirmation, and schadenfreude. Emotion, 11(6), 1445-1449. doi:10.1037/a0026331
10. Watanabe, H. (2016). Effects of self-evaluation threat on schadenfreude toward strangers in a reality TV show. Psychological Reports, 118(3), 778-792.