Warding off the evil eye: when the fear of being envied increases prosocial behavior

The fear of being envied makes people act prosocially, in an attempt to ward off the potentially destructive effects of envy. In three experiments, people who were in a superior position and could be envied were more likely than control participants to give time-consuming advice to a potentially envious person or to help a potentially envious person pick up erasers she had accidentally scattered. However, helping behavior increased only if envy was likely to be malicious rather than benign. People who were better off did not increase their helping behavior toward people in general, but increased their helping only toward the potentially envious. This finding is consistent with the idea that the better off act more prosocially as an appeasement strategy. The fear of being envied serves useful group functions, because it triggers prosocial behavior that is likely to dampen the potentially destructive effects of envy and simultaneously helps to improve the situation of people who are worse off.     

When people want what others have: the impulsive side of envious desire

Envy is the unpleasant emotion that can arise when people are exposed to others with superior possessions. Common wisdom and scholarly opinion suggest that when people experience envy they may be motivated to obtain the others' superior possession. Despite the vast interpersonal, societal, and economical consequences attributed to this potential aspect of envious responding, experimental demonstrations of the affective and behavioral consequences of envy-inducing situations are scarce. We propose that social comparisons with better-off others trigger an impulsive envious response that entails a behavioral tendency to strive for their superior good. However, given that the experience of envy is painful, self-threatening, and met with social disapproval, people typically attempt to control their envious reactions. Doing so requires self-control capacities, so that envious reactions may only become apparent if self-control is taxed. In line with these predictions, four experiments show that only when self-control resources are taxed, upward comparisons elicit envy paired with an increased willingness to pay for, to spontaneously purchase and to impulsively approach the superior good.     

The role of self-esteem in the experience of envy

It is the thesis of this paper that although analysts have always recognized that narcissistic injury may trigger envious feelings, the significance of self-esteem as both a motivator and response to envious feelings has not yet been sufficiently explored. Traditional drive-defense or object instinctual explanations tend to diminish awareness of the importance of self-esteem in the experience of envy. The focus on drives or repetition of early patterns of object relations does not always take into account the significance of the cycle in which damaged self-esteem leads to envy, the component parts of which may cause further damage to self-esteem, leading to more envy, and so on. I am suggesting that it is often an attempt to avoid painful injury to one's self-esteem, as well as the related attempt to maintain a positively colored sense of self, and not a repression of drives or a repetition of some aspect of early object relationships which must be understood in order to fully comprehend both feelings of envy and the need to keep such feelings out of conscious awareness.     

The empty mother: women's fear of their destructive envy

This paper explains the importance of understanding the little girl's envy of her mother and how the resolution of this envy (and her fear of other women's envy) is crucial to a woman's development. I postulate that envy is a universal part of female development (with more or less destructive effects on a woman's personality, depending on the libidinal/sexual components of her attachment to both parents). I hope to show that by interpreting a woman's fear of her destructive envy, one can free her not only to enjoy her own sexuality and to find appropriate ways to express her aggression, but also to be more creative. I believe that guilt about these envious feelings often leads to profound inhibitions and masochistic behavior. Two clinical examples illustrate how envy manifests itself in treatment with a woman analyst, and how the working through of intense envious feelings leads to a greater ability to enjoy one's own capacities without constant fear of retribution.     

Supervisory Abuse of High Performers: A Social Comparison Perspective

Prior research linking employee performance to abusive supervision suggests that supervisors have instrumental and non-instrumental reasons for engaging in abuse while dealing with low performers in the workplace. Drawing on social comparison theory, we argue that high-performing subordinates can make supervisors envious, which in turn leads to abusive supervisory behavior. Furthermore, we hypothesize supervisor social comparison orientation as a key boundary condition for the indirect positive effect of subordinate performance on abusive supervision through supervisor envy; that is, supervisors are more likely to abuse high performers when the supervisors’ social comparison orientation is high. A multi-source, multi-wave field study was conducted with data collected from supervisor-subordinate dyads (N = 95 supervisors and 385 subordinates). The data supported a positive indirect effect of employee performance on abusive supervision through supervisor envy. Moreover, the indirect effect was statistically significant for supervisors with high social comparison orientation but it was not significant for supervisors with low social comparison orientation. Implications of these findings for reducing abusive supervision are discussed.     

Envy: One or many?

This paper reports conceptual and clinical research about envy. It consists of an examination and comparison of Klein's points of view of 1952, where the feeling of exclusion from the envious object is stressed, and of 1957, based on the split death instinct that is projected onto the envied object. These two approaches are contrasted with the point of view of the author, where envy is understood as the result of a particular kind of object relation, in which the subject registers an asymmetry with its peer, that he considers unfair, due to the biased action of an idealized omnipotent object, on whom the subject depends and that gives to the envied one, and deceives the envious one, leading to experiencing a compound of emotions: hatred, love, sense of unfairness, wish of revenge, helplessness and incapacity of the subject to provide for himself. The mental state just described emerges from clinical observations, and is illustrated with the passage from the Bible where Abel, the envied one, is killed by Cain, the envious one, showing their relationship with Jehovah, biased in his preferences, a situation designated by the author as 'Cain's complex'. In this paper some considerations are also made concerning the modalities of envy: penis envy in women, the relationship between envy and narcissism, the difference between envy and jealousy, and the interpretative handling of envy. To answer the question posed in the title, the conclusion is that envy presents a central nucleus with different elaborative branches.     

Sugar and Spice: Competitiveness,Envy and Shame in Women’s Relationships - Discussion of “With Friends Like These”

Barth’s (this issue) thoughtful article draws our attention to the ubiquity and dangers of competitiveness in women’s relationships. She highlights the tension between women’s desires to be nurturing and supportive of one another, and their discomfort with being competitive with and envious of one another. In responding to Barth, I address three aspects of her article. The first is the broader sociopolitical context in which women compete. The second is the need to delineate the complex and important differences between competition and envy, which are so often linked but are essentially quite different emotional states. I explore the role of shame as an underpinning of envy. Third, I take up Barth’s comment regarding traditional psychoanalytic technique being employed by the analyst as defensive maneuver.     

The envious mind

This work provides an analysis of the basic cognitive components of envy. In particular, the roles played by the envious party's social comparison with, and ill will against, the better off are emphasised. The ill will component is characterised by the envier's ultimate goal or wish that the envied suffer some harm, and is distinguished from resentment and sense of injustice, which have often been considered part of envy. The reprehensible nature of envy is discussed, and traced back to the analysis of its components. Finally, we explore both points of overlap and distinguishing features between envy and other emotions such as jealousy or emulation, and make a few general remarks, pointing to the necessity of overcoming conceptual looseness in the notion of envy.     

Über Neid

Envy is evil, dangerous and poisonous. It is ugly and makes ugly. Envy is sometimes pale, sometimes yellow, at other times green, occasionally both, like the colours of bile. Being envious means discrediting oneself, becoming a moral outsider. ?I do not want to have anything to do with envy, because it has nothing in common with sageness“, said once King Solomon. Even such feelings as contempt and hate may count on comprehension, but not envy. For envy it takes long to find advocates. Related emotions like jealousy have their defenders, but envy is a priori beyond the pale. Envy is an evil, torturing one’s soul, excrutiating the body, making hollow-eyed, pale and dried-up, an evil that eats away the body like moths eat away a dress – thus was envy castigated by Johannes Chrysostomos, archbishop of Constantinople around 400°AD.     

参与型领导对员工幸福感的双重影响：感知同事支持的调节作用

本研究探究了参与型领导对员工工作幸福感的双重影响,并探究了感知同事支持的调节作用。基于191份互联网企业员工的三阶段追踪数据,采用路径分析发现：参与型领导既能增强员工的组织自尊进而提升员工工作幸福感,又会加重员工的工作负荷进而降低员工工作幸福感。感知同事支持在上述两条路径过程中发挥调节作用,当员工感知到高水平同事支持时,工作负荷的中介效应被削弱,而组织自尊的中介效应被强化。上述结果能启发管理者如何有效地为企业员工谋幸福。     

领导者性别身份的评价差异：基于内隐领导理论的实证分析

本研究基于内隐领导理论,运用配对问卷法,探究领导者性别身份的三种评价差异：自我评价与下属评价的差异,男性领导与女性领导的下属评价差异,男性下属与女性下属的评价差异。结果显示,与领导者自评的性别身份相比,下属易高估领导者的男性化;且下属评价男性领导的男性化显著高于女性化,而评价女性领导时两者并不存在显著差异。此外,男性下属对领导男性化的评价高于女性下属的评价。     

愤怒有度:领导表达愤怒情绪对领导绩效的影响

领导表达愤怒情绪一定不好吗?最近研究发现,领导表达愤怒情绪对领导绩效(任务绩效和关系绩效)存在积极影响与消极影响的不一致结论。文章尝试使用双阈限模型揭示领导的愤怒情绪产生积极影响或消极影响的边界条件。进一步明确领导表达愤怒情绪的阈限是影响领导绩效的关键因素,拓展了双阈限模型对领导愤怒情绪影响其领导绩效的理论解释。     

In their humble opinion: How expressions of humility affect superiors’ assessments of leadership potential in the US Army

While leader humility has been linked to a number of positive outcomes, existing research speculates that expressions of humility may not be viewed positively in organizations with a highly directive or masculine culture – such as the military. Research has also suggested that men and women may be perceived differently when behaving humbly. A combination of four studies revealed that military superiors do take a positive view of humble behaviors in their subordinates, but it is not clear that humble leaders are viewed as having more potential than those who exhibit other positive leadership behaviors. Further, it appears that gender and humility interact to affect perceptions of leadership potential in the military, with humble men receiving more benefit from acting humbly than their female counterparts.     

A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition

Stereotype research emphasizes systematic processes over seemingly arbitrary contents, but content also may prove systematic. On the basis of stereotypes' intergroup functions, the stereotype content model hypothesizes that (a) 2 primary dimensions are competence and warmth, (b) frequent mixed clusters combine high warmth with low competence (paternalistic) or high competence with low warmth (envious), and (c) distinct emotions (pity, envy, admiration, contempt) differentiate the 4 competence-warmth combinations. Stereotypically, (d) status predicts high competence, and competition predicts low warmth. Nine varied samples rated gender, ethnicity, race, class, age, and disability out-groups. Contrary to antipathy models, 2 dimensions mattered, and many stereotypes were mixed, either pitying (low competence, high warmth subordinates) or envying (high competence, low warmth competitors). Stereotypically, status predicted competence, and competition predicted low warmth.     

Leadership predictors of innovation and task performance: Subordinates' self‐esteem and self‐presentation as moderators

This study examined self‐related subordinate variables as moderators of relationships between supervisors' leadership behaviours (transformational as well as active‐corrective transactional leadership) and subordinates' innovative behaviour and task performance. Based on behavioural plasticity and self‐monitoring theory, we hypothesized that these associations would be moderated by subordinates' organization‐based self‐esteem and by their propensity to modify self‐presentation, a major facet of the self‐monitoring construct. Field survey data (N=161) collected in research and development, marketing and human resources departments of several German companies revealed that transformational leadership positively predicted both criteria, whereas active‐corrective transactional leadership negatively predicted innovation. As hypothesized, transformational leadership related more strongly and positively to innovation for subordinates low in organization‐based self‐esteem. When subordinates were low in self‐presentation propensity, active‐corrective transactional leadership was negatively, and transformational leadership was positively associated with task performance.     

Hurry up! The role of supervisors’ time urgency and self‐perceived status for autocratic leadership and subordinates’ well‐being

This study examines the connections among supervisors’ time urgency, their leadership behavior, and subordinate outcomes. Integrating cognitive perspectives on time urgency with contemporary thinking on the psychological experience of status, we reason that supervisors’ time‐urgent personality relates positively with their autocratic leadership behavior, and we cast supervisors’ self‐perceived status as a moderator of this linkage. Moreover, we enrich this leader‐centric perspective with a complementary, more follower‐centric view, recognizing that the consequences of supervisors’ time urgency likely extend beyond their own behavior to indirectly affect their subordinates’ well‐being at work. We tested our hypotheses using a field sample of 60 supervisors and 277 of their subordinates. Results indicate that (a) supervisors with higher time urgency are more likely to exhibit autocratic leadership behavior when they also perceive themselves as having relatively high status among subordinates, but not when perceiving lower status, and (b) supervisors’ time urgency exhibits a conditional indirect effect (via autocratic leadership) on subordinates’ work stress and time pressure experiences. Hence, this study illustrates an important boundary condition for the consequences of supervisors’ time urgency, and it demonstrates that this personality characteristic not only shapes supervisors’ leadership behavior but also affects the subordinates they are charged with leading.     

时间领导对员工助人行为的影响:工作激情和主动型人格的作用

基于情感事件理论和人-境互动视角,应用bootstrap法根据260份有效问卷的数据执行路径分析,探讨时间领导对员工助人行为的影响机制。结果发现:时间领导正向预测助人行为;时间领导影响助人行为部分是通过和谐式激情与强迫式激情的并行多重中介作用来实现的,且和谐式激情的个别中介效应较大;由于主动型人格的调节作用,时间领导影响助人行为的直接效应和总效应在员工主动型人格较低时更强。     

两种条件下的妒忌分离:间接测量的优势

通过间接测量和直接测量考察被试的妒忌感受(实验1),并测量两种测量条件下被试的敏感性和反应偏向的分离(实验2).结果发现:间接测量组的被试比直接测量组报告更多的妒忌感受,两种条件下被试所采用的判定标准没有变化,但间接测量中被试的敏感性高于直接测量,这说明两种测量测得了妒忌的不同层面,间接测量在测量妒忌的无意识方面更具优势;而两种条件下被试对于妒忌者都比被妒忌者要更为敏感,则表明了被试在无意识中对妒忌者更为偏好;两种条件下对于妒忌的评定均无性别差异.     

Burning With Envy? Dispositional and Situational Influences on Envy in Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissism

Research on narcissism and envy suggests a variable relationship that may reflect differences between how vulnerable and grandiose narcissism relate to precursors of envy. Accordingly, we proposed a model in which dispositional envy and relative deprivation differentially mediate envy's association with narcissistic vulnerability, grandiosity, and entitlement. To test the model, 330 young adults completed dispositional measures of narcissism, entitlement, and envy; one week later, participants reported on deprivation and envy feelings toward a peer who outperformed others on an intelligence test for a cash prize (Study 1) or earned higher monetary payouts in a betting game (Study 2). In both studies, structural equation modeling broadly supported the proposed model. Vulnerable narcissism robustly predicted episodic envy via dispositional envy. Entitlement—a narcissistic facet common to grandiosity and vulnerability—was a significant indirect predictor via relative deprivation. Study 2 also found that (a) the grandiose leadership/authority facet indirectly curbed envy feelings via dispositional envy, and (b) episodic envy contributed to schadenfreude feelings, which promoted efforts to sabotage a successful rival. Whereas vulnerable narcissists appear dispositionally envy‐prone, grandiose narcissists may be dispositionally protected. Both, however, are susceptible to envy through entitlement when relative deprivation is encountered.