THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - ENVY

Envy gives people a fundamental desire for a higher social rank

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JENS LANGE 

Is envy more psychological than social? 

Being envious is frowned upon. It is considered a deadly sin. It is probably a very common experience, but most people deny experiencing it and insult those who do. And this is a very interesting dynamic.

It makes sense to investigate envy because it stems from a social comparison with another person. It speaks to people’s desire for a higher social rank. Both these processes are fundamental psychological processes in humans. There is evidence showing that people automatically compare themselves to others. If you want to say that you are smart or nice, you do that by comparing yourself to other people in a community, group, culture or other reference group.

Given that envy is a common experience, have humans benefited from it?

Typically, most people would describe envy as evil, especially in the Christian tradition, where it is part of the deadly sins. This kind of thinking is deeply ingrained in people, that they should not experience envy. But from a psychological perspective, we tend not to judge. We look at emotions as something functional to help people deal with situations.

For envy, there is evidence that it is elicited when people are lower ranked compared to another person ranked higher. Envy gives people a fundamental desire for a higher social rank. Consequently, people activate certain reactions that help them level that difference. From that functional perspective, envy has a certain value.