Envy and Its Transmutations

Abstract

A routine fact of life is that we often meet people who are superior to us in some way. When their superiority matters to us, we can feel envy. Here is Shakespeare's Cassius, a literary prototype of the envying person, as he protests the honors being heaped on Caesar: Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. (Shakespeare, 1599/1934, p. 41) These words show an important quality of envy. The envying person notices another's advantage or superiority and feels inferior . Caesar was an exceptional man who had achieved military and political greatness, and Cassius felt undersized and trivial next to his grand presence. Envy begins with an unflattering social comparison resulting in a quick, painful perception of inferiority (e.g., Foster, 1972; Parrott, 1991; Salovey & Rodin, 1984; Silver & Sabini, 1978; Smith, 1991; Smith et al., 1999). It is worth dwelling on why an unflattering social comparison might catch our attention and then create a painful emotion such as envy. From an evolutionary point of view, it is highly adaptive for people to have an inclination to scan their environment for threats of all kinds. In terms of potential threats from others, this also means that people should have the capacity and the inclination to assess their rank (e.g., Beach & Tesser, 2000; Buunk & Ybema, 1997; Frank, 1999; Gilbert, 1992; Smith, 2000).

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