English
 
Help Privacy Policy Disclaimer
  Advanced SearchBrowse

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT
  The effects of social comparison on social emotions and behavior during childhood: The ontogeny of envy and Schadenfreude predicts developmental changes in equity-related decisions

Steinbeis, N., & Singer, T. (2013). The effects of social comparison on social emotions and behavior during childhood: The ontogeny of envy and Schadenfreude predicts developmental changes in equity-related decisions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 115(1), 198-209. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2012.11.009.

Item is

Files

show Files

Locators

show

Creators

show
hide
 Creators:
Steinbeis, Nikolaus1, Author           
Singer, Tania1, 2, Author           
Affiliations:
1Department Social Neuroscience, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Society, ou_634552              
2Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Switzerland, ou_persistent22              

Content

show
hide
Free keywords: Child development; Social comparison; Envy; Schadenfreude; Equity-related decisions; Prosocial behavior
 Abstract: Social comparison can elicit emotions such as envy, which can affect social interactions. The emergence and development of such social emotions through ontogeny, and their influence on social interaction, are unknown. We tested 182 children from 7 to 13 years of age with a novel monetary reward-and-punishment task measuring envy and Schadenfreude (i.e., gloating or taking delight in someone else’s misfortune). Children were either rewarded or punished in a trial-by-trial evaluation of their performance on a speeded reaction time task. In a social condition, feedback of their own and a competitor’s performance was given for each trial. Afterward, children rated how they felt about the outcome. The ratings suggest that when children won, they felt better if the competitor lost instead of winning (i.e., Schadenfreude). Conversely, when children lost, they felt worse if the competitor won instead of losing (i.e., envy). Crucially, levels of envy and Schadenfreude decreased with age. We also studied how these emotions relate to social decisions made separately during three resource allocation paradigms. In each, children chose between two options that differed in the distribution of valuable tokens between themselves and an anonymous other. The combination of choices allowed the measurement of inequity aversion (i.e., equality for all) and spite (i.e., self-profit to maximal disadvantage of the other). We found an age-related increase in inequity aversion and decrease in spite. Crucially, age-related changes in both envy and Schadenfreude predicted the developmental change in equity-related decisions. These findings shed light on the development of social emotions and demonstrate their importance in the development of prosocial behavior in children.

Details

show
hide
Language(s): eng - English
 Dates: 2012-11-122012-06-122012-11-072013-01-292013-05-01
 Publication Status: Issued
 Pages: -
 Publishing info: -
 Table of Contents: -
 Rev. Type: Peer
 Identifiers: DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.11.009
PMID: 23374608
Other: Epub 2013
 Degree: -

Event

show

Legal Case

show

Project information

show

Source 1

show
hide
Title: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
  Other : J Exp Child Psychol
Source Genre: Journal
 Creator(s):
Affiliations:
Publ. Info: Academic Press
Pages: - Volume / Issue: 115 (1) Sequence Number: - Start / End Page: 198 - 209 Identifier: ISSN: 0022-0965
CoNE: https://pure.mpg.de/cone/journals/resource/954922645034