Our Brains on Justice – Why are We Pleased with People’s Misfortune?

Let’s face it; most of us are guilty of finding joy in the misfortune of others.
Even according to Gore Vidal, it’s not enough to succeed; others must fail.

In today’s society, the emotion of pleasure-in-others’-misfortune is seen as pure evil and even regarded as a deadly sin that’s much worse than envy.

In fact, being pleased with another person’s misfortune is considered to be morally evil than being displeased with another person’s “good fortune.”

According to Arthur Schopenhauer, to feel envy is human but enjoying other people’s misfortune is diabolical.
What’s more, he considers pleasure-in-others’-misfortune to be the worst trait in human nature.

It’s however important to note that this emotion can become more natural and acceptable only if we can just take our time to understand it.

For the most part, there are two features that come into play when describing pleasure-in-others’-misfortune.
• Our pleasure
• Other’s misfortune
It’s good to point out that these features describe a significant conflict between our positive evaluation of the situation and negative evaluation of the other person.
If you take a closer look, you’ll find that this conflict is as a result of comparative or competitive concern.
In fact, most of us tend to be pleased with the misfortune of another person because that particular misfortune may affect us positively — it could actually make us look and feel superior to them.

Moreover, there are still other characteristics that trigger this kind of emotion; it could be that:
• The other person actually deserves the misfortune
First off, our pleasure-in-others’-misfortune is likely to arise when we believe that he or she deserves the misfortune.
In this regard, our belief that the other person deserves his misfortune is linked to feeling that “justice has been served.”
It typically happens when the said person has hurt or offended you in one way or the other.

What’s more, this belief doesn’t portray us as morally perverse.
Why? Well, it’s only because the misfortune is deserved — it’s as simple as that.

• The misfortune is minor or not severe

Next up, the minor nature of the misfortune has a link to the comparative concern prevailing in the emotion.
Essentially, the comparison is likely to happen when the two parties are not far from each other.

In other words, this emotion is associated with small differences.
It’s also important to note that pleasure-in-others’-misfortune may turn to pity when the said misfortune is dire.

Lest we forget to mention, there are some situations where the other’s misfortune may be severe, but still, nothing compared to what he/she has done to other people.

For example, a death sentence for a convicted serial killer will be pleasing to many since the person has taken a lot of lives and brought pain to families.

All in all, some people believe that pleasure-in-others’-misfortune is associated with sadism — in essence, it involves hate and cruelty.
Now, there’s no doubt that this emotion has such public image, but it’s primarily linked to extreme and non-typical events.

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