Başarının, Grup Üyeliğinin ve Güvenilir Olmanın Kıskançlık, Hakçalık ve Başkasının Üzüntüsüne Sevinme Üzerindeki Etkisi

Abstract

Schadenfreude is defined as the pleasure of people who are observers in the face of an unfortunate event that happens to others. Studies have shown that Schadenfreude can be affected by many factors. Among these factors, success, being trusted, and group membership play an important role. On this basis, the effect of success, group membership, and being trusted of the target person on Schadenfreude has been examined in this dissertation study. The sample of the study consisted of 139 students (35 males, 104 females) studying at Hacettepe University. In the present research, success and group membership variables were manipulated as between-subjects while being trusted variable was manipulated as within-subject. According to the findings, the level of being trusted of the target person has been found to have an important effect on Schadenfreude and deservingness. In other words, in the condition that the target person is not being trusted, the participants felt more Schadenfreude and reported that the unfortunate event was more deserved. Besides, it has resulted that the level of success of the target person has an impact only on envy rather than Schadenfreude or deservingness. Finally, the findings showed that group membership of the target person has not to influence on envy, deservingness, and Schadenfreude. Findings obtained within the scope of the current study were discussed together with the findings in the literature. In this regard, as arguing that Schadenfreude and deservingness can be affected by social desirability, the presence of social cues and collectivistic culture; it has been argued that envy can be affected by having similar interests and features with the target person. Also, the contributions of the current research to the literature were evaluated, the limitations of the research were specified and suggestions for future studies were presented.