Why is it that misfortune that befalls certain people can make us feel empathetic and wanting to help, while misfortune that befalls others can actually make us feel happy? A new study shows that Schadenfreude might actually be biological, and that who the misfortune befalls is a critical factor in how we react.


Researchers from Princeton University found that we are most likely to be happy about others' misfortune when the "other" is someone we feel envious toward. And that envy is associated with competition -- like a rival sports team -- and high status -- like a rich businessman.


"A lack of empathy is not always pathological. It's a human response[1] , and not everyone experiences this, but a significant portion does," study researcher Mina Cikara said in a statement. "We need to remember this in terms of everyday situations. If you think about the way workplaces and organizations are set up, for example, it raises an interesting question: Is competition the best way to get your employees to produce? It's possible, in some circumstances, that competition is good. In other ways, people might be preoccupied with bringing other people down, and that's not what an organization wants."


Cikara and professor Susan Fiske conducted four experiments for the study, which is published in the journal Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences[2] .


For one of the experiments, researchers monitored the cheek movements -- in order to find indicators of a smile -- of study participants as they looked at pictures of different kinds of people, such as drug addicts (indicative of disgust), elderly (indicative of pity), Americans (indicative of pride) and rich professionals (indicative of envy). The study participants were told that each of these kinds of people had good, bad or neutral things happen to them, such as winning five dollars, getting soaked by a taxi, or using the restroom. The study participants smiled more, as was measured by the cheek movements, in response to negative events involving the rich professionals.


For another experiment, researchers looked at brain scans from functional magnetic resonance imaging, as well as self-reports, from study participants who were asked to look at the same pictures and events from the first experiment and rate whether they felt bad or good. Again, the study participants felt bad when positive events happened to the rich professionals, but felt good when negative events happened to them.


Then, after two weeks, researchers had the participants take a survey online where they were presented with a scenario of hurting someone (through electrical shocks) so that others could be spared. The participants were more willing to shock someone they felt envious of. The researchers noted it was interesting that the participants were so forthcoming in saying that they would hurt someone.



In another experiment, researchers looked at how rivalry might play a role in Schadenfreude. They specifically picked study participants who were big fans of either the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees baseball teams for this experiment. They had the participants watch their teams and opponents score runs, make great plays, or strike out. Through self-reports and fMRI scanning, the researchers found that participants experienced pleasure when their teams did well.


Then, they had the participants watch their teams, or their rivals, go up against the Baltimore Orioles -- a neutral team. Participants didn't feel good or bad in reaction to good plays or strike-outs by the Orioles, and in general didn't want the Orioles fans to suffer any harm. But when it came to their rivals playing against the Orioles, they were happy when the Orioles won.


In addition, a later online survey also showed that fans of one team were more likely to say that they would heckle or threaten a rival team's fan as they watched the plays in the experiment.



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  • Be curious.


    Being curious is the best way to become more insightful, says Klein, and a lack of insight often comes from being in a passive and disinterested state of mind. "Curiosity is another engine of insight," says Klein. "People who get insights see something that's a little bit off, and instead of ignoring it, they're curious about it. Curiosity keeps our mind engaged to work out the implications."




  • Let your mind wander.


    A <a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/04/the-benefits-of-daydreaming/" target="_blank">2012 psychological study</a> found that daydreaming -- passive though it may seem -- actually involves a very active brain state, which is why the wandering mind can sometimes stumble upon brilliant insights and sudden connections. The researchers credit this phenomenon to the fact that daydreaming correlates with our ability to recall information in the face of distractions. Recent <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201102/why-daydreamers-are-more-creative" target="_blank">neuroscience research</a> has also found that daydreaming involves the same brain processes involved in imagination and creativity. "I worry about people who spend all their empty time when they're not in conversations listening to music or podcasts or things like that, and not leaving any space to just daydream," says Klein.




  • Pay attention to coincidences.


    "Be more alert to anomalies," Klein says, "rather than quickly explaining them away and staying in your comfort zone." We tend to ignore coincidences or not think much of them, because they're often meaningless, says Klein. But looking for coincidences is a powerful way to make surprising connections. "There's a belief that correlation doesn't imply causality, which is true. People see all sorts of correlations in coincides that turn out to be spurious, so they get a bad reputation," Klein says. "But in my work I find that a lot of insights are fed by people spotting coincidences and making assumptions, and instead of just saying 'It must be true,' doing to follow-up work to find out if it's true."




  • Look closely at contradictions.


    Insights can occur when we encounter ideas that don't make sense to us. Questioning contradictions is another path to epiphanies. Whereas curiosity makes us wonder, contradiction causes us to doubt -- and it can be another powerful way to gain insights. "Our tendency when we hit a contradiction that involves things we believe we understand well is to say, 'Well, that must an anomaly.' We have a marvelous set of techniques for explaining away inconvenient facts," says Klein. "The contradiction only leads to an insight when people take it seriously enough to explore it a bit."




  • Act on your insights.


    Daydreaming isn’t the only state of mind that can lead to insights. "I've found a number of examples where people were under tremendous pressure and came up with marvelous insights," says Klein. "We should embrace urgency." This urgency forces people to look at things they'd otherwise ignore (what Klein refers to as "creative desperation"), and when they gain an insight, encourages them to act on it right away. This is frequently how chess grand masters try an unusual move that ends up being successful and winning the game for them. "The problem with too many organizations is that they don't feel any pressure to act on the insights they've had," says Klein. "They act like they have all the time in the world and then they end up going out of business."