If you ever felt guilty about feeling satisfaction when someone else messed up, scientists say that you don’t have to beat yourself up too much about it. Schadenfreude is a process that became deeply ingrained in our brains due to millions of years of evolution.
Humans are extremely social creatures that are very aware of other people, their relationships, and their place in the hierarchy of social status. Even subconsciously, we want to be respected and liked, which pushes us to find ways to improve our place in society.
It can feel good to raise our social status, whereas having a low ranking in the hierarchy can feel stressful and even negatively affect a person's well-being.
Humans can improve their social standing in various ways, like being highly athletic, succeeding in their careers, having the latest technology, or buying the biggest house.
Another way to rise in social ranking that is associated with the previously mentioned schadenfreude is to lower other people’s social status. That’s why when we see other people mess up, we can feel a spark of delight, which the German word is all about.
Professor of differential psychology and psychological diagnostics and co-author of Schadenfreude as Social-Functional Dominance Regulator, Jens Lange, says, "When people feel down, laughing about others' misfortunes makes them feel better."
It also helps put dominant people in their place. "Schadenfreude is more strongly experienced when misfortunes happen to people who initially attained higher social rank via dominant means (i.e., aggressively putting others in their place by inducing fear). When such an initially dominant person experiences a misfortune, publicly laughing about that person reduces their threat-potential and thereby reduces their social rank in the eyes of others," Lange further explains.
"Hence, schadenfreude can be useful for people to experience. Whether these functions would make the schadenfroh person a "bad" person is up for public debate. My personal opinion is "no." Depending on your (philosophical) position, you may disagree."
Some people may even use it as a coping mechanism, as it can provide control and dominance in troubling times.
Schadenfreude also activates the brain's reward centers, which means that when we see someone fail, we get a hit of dopamine that can keep us coming back for more. “When we get hooked into our limbic system, there is an addictive quality to it,” Hokemeyer says. “We become hyperactive, our prefrontal cortex shuts down, and we’re acting on our very primitive emotions.”
When this happens, it can pose a threat to our mental health. Constantly getting a dopamine hit from other’s misfortune can hinder our ability to sympathize with others, which might cause harm to our emotional intelligence, healthy relationships, personal goals, and aspirations. It can make people feel less connected, which has a severe impact on their mental and physical health.
Social media is linked to a higher use of this coping strategy. The “one-upping” that is constantly going on on social media platforms is making individuals more reliant on the feeling of schadenfreude to boost their confidence and self-worth.
"Social media provides people with numerous opportunities for social comparisons, of which most will probably be upward because most people only post amazing things about themselves," explains Lange. "Such upward comparisons may, in the long run, reduce people's self-esteem. Then, if they at some point encounter someone who is worse off, then schadenfreude could become more likely, be it on social media or in real life."
