Attachment Style, Empathy, and Schadenfreude: How Close Relationships Influence Reactions toward Others in Need Alison Baren & Claudia Brumbaugh The Graduate Center, City University of New York; Queens College, City University of New York

Introduction Study 1 Results Study 2 We studied attachment style’s, how people experience close 4 Exploratory Factor Analysis relationships, impact on emotional responses toward envied and non‐envied others in need (Study 1) and developed and validated a trait schadenfreude Using a scree plot test (Catell, 1966), one clear factor emerged 3 scale (Study 2). (eigenvalue of 10.35). This factor accounts for 31.36% of variance. Of Ratings

the initial 36‐items, 24 loaded strongly onto this factor. Common emotional responses toward others in need (Davis, 1983; Smith et al., 1996): 2 Items with strong loadings onto single factor. *loading values Personal Distress Empathy Schadenfreude Please rate the following statements (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree) self‐focused understanding joy from another’s Emotional 1. I can’t help but feel good when a fellow classmate doesn’t do well on an exam. (.615)* concern another’s feelings misfortune 1 High Envy 2. I feel joy when I learn of other people's breakups. (.515) 3. I feel good after learning of a celebrity who experiences a downfall. (.609) Low Envy 4. I often feel joy from witnessing others’ misfortunes. (.585) Does envy predict empathy and personal distress, as it predicts 0 Empathy Personal Distress Schadenfreude 5. I feel satisfied when a coworker fails to get a promotion. (.809) schadenfreude (Smith et al., 1996)? 6. I perk up when I find out someone has failed an exam. (.731) H1: Envy will evoke less empathy and personal distress, and more For high envied targets, people reported less empathy, personal distress, and more 7. My attitude improves when someone I know gains weight. (.620) schadenfreude, compared to low envied targets (for all comparisons, p < .01). 8. I feel satisfied when other people experience a downfall. (.718) schadenfreude. 9. I daydream about ways people I know could fail. (.605) 10.I can’t help but smile when I see someone step in a puddle. (.562) Does attachment predict schadenfreude, as it predicts empathy and personal Measure1234567 11.It makes me laugh to watch people run after the bus. (.663) 12.I seek out gossip. (.532) distress (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2005)? 1. Anxiety — 13.I remember and share details about other people’s misfortunes. (.664) 14.I am more likely to read news articles about a political scandal than a political success. (.478) H2: Because avoidant people dislike others, they will feel more 2. Avoidance .53** — schadenfreude at another’s misfortune, regardless of envy. 15.Gossip is more fun when the person I’m talking about has been negatively affected. (.752) 3. Empathy .03 ‐.03 — 16.I am more likely to click on a news article about a celebrity’s scandal than her charity work. (.459) H3: Because anxious people struggle with stressful situations, they will 17.My mindset is improved when I hear a rumor. (.683) feel more personal distress, especially toward disadvantaged (low 4. Schadenfreude .16 .21* ‐.30** — 18.When someone I know or follow on social media gets an unflattering hair cut I get pleasure out of envied) others. 5. Personal Distress .17* .10 .56** ‐.15 — talking to others about it. (.729) 19.When I see a person with a black eye, I think he must have deserved it in some way. (.430) 6. Positive Affect ‐.24** ‐.28** .05 ‐.03 .04 — 20.It’s funny to see people who have casts or who are on crutches. (.657) Do trait differences in schadenfreude exist as they do for empathy and 21.I like to see car accidents on the side of the road. (.565) 7. Negative Affect .42** .34** .08 .15 .26** ‐.05 — personal distress (Batson et al., 1983)? 22.When someone I know has lost something important to them, I laugh to myself. (.632) Correlations among variables: Anxious people reported more personal distress (β = .17, p = 23.If someone didn’t get into college, that would be kind of funny. (.662) H4: Using factor analysis, our new scale will present a single factor .042), while avoidant people generally reported more schadenfreude (β = .21, p = .01). 24.When someone throws a party and hardly anyone comes, that’s amusing. (.419) representing “trait” schadenfreude. Note. **p < .01; *p < .05. Reliability and Validity Method 5 The remaining 24 items had strong internal reliability (α = .92) and Study 1 4 good test‐retest reliability (r = .90, p < .001). We found good Ratings convergent validity with our scale and known associated traits. Using Participants: n = 144 (87 females, Mage = 21 yrs.) 3 joint factor analyses (Clark & Watson, 1995), 23 items loaded strongly Completed attachment questionnaire (ECR‐R, Fraley et al., 2000) onto 1 factor while items from the other scales loaded onto their own Distress

2 High Envy Low Envy separate factor, indicating adequate discriminant validity. 1 “he/she gets unlimited Read target profile “he/she doesn’t get High Envy financial support…” financial support…” Personal ‐‐ Low Envy Dark Triad Short (Jonason & Webster, 2010) .51** 0 Dispositional Envy (Smith et al., 1999) .40** 0123456 Envy toward target assessed (van Dijk et al., 2006) as a manipulation check. Self‐Esteem (Rosenberg, 1979) ‐.29* Attachment Anxiety Empathy (Davis, 1980) ‐.37** Anxious people experienced personal distress toward a low envied target Read about target’s hardship: “…Ashley/Michael finished with a failing grade…” (β = .30, p < .05) but not a high envied target (β = .05, ns). Pearson correlations of schadenfreude scale with related measures*p <.01, **p <.001

Empathy & personal distress assessed via adjective ratings (e.g., compassionate, Batson et al., 1987). Schadenfreude assessed via statements ratings (e.g., “I couldn’t resist smiling”, van Dijk et al., 2006). Discussion In Study 1, as expected, envy discouraged compassionate responses toward another’s misfortune. Findings also confirmed that attachment impacted Study 2 feelings toward distressed strangers. Notably, avoidant people felt more schadenfreude, regardless of envy, likely because they harbor more negative feelings

Participants: n = 94 (74 females, Mage = 31 yrs.) toward others. Anxious people especially fretted over low‐envied others’ misfortunes (a novel finding), likely because of their hyper‐concern for fairness Participants rated (agreed or disagreed with) 36‐questions relating to (Koleva et al., 2013). In Study 2, we developed a new scale of “trait” schadenfreude, as no such scale currently exists. The scale had good reliability. While their enjoyment of others’ misfortunes. They completed related measures related to dark triad traits, empathy, envy, and self‐esteem, the 23 final items represented a distinct construct. (e.g., empathy) so we could assess validity, and completed the Marlowe and This work provides novel information on why people sometimes gain pleasure from others’ hardships and illustrates how attachment style corresponds Crown Social Desirability Scale (Reynolds, 1982). To evaluate test‐retest to helpful versus callous responses toward strangers. Whether or not people feel compassion toward distressed others is important, as it likely relates to reliability, 27 participants completed the schadenfreude and dark triad scales helping behavior (e.g., Eisenberg et al., 2010) . Future researchers could benefit by using our new scale to investigate individual differences in schadenfreude again (2 weeks later). and attachment style on actual behavioral responses toward another in need.

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