⁠New Research Article Published in Emotion

A new cross-national psychological study shows that feelings of schadenfreude — pleasure at another’s misfortune — can make people more willing to endorse illegal actions against institutions they see as corrupt. 

Conducted across the UK and Italy, the research involved five experimental studies with a total of 1,676 participants, using realistic scenarios such as cyberattacks and violent intimidation by criminal groups. 

Participants were presented with information about attacks on corrupt institutions and then assessed for their emotional reactions and willingness to legitimise such attacks.

Results showed that people experienced schadenfreude more intensely when corrupt institutions suffered setbacks or were attacked.  Those positive emotional reactions predicted greater legitimisation of illegal actions, even when the harm was criminal in nature.    

The study sheds light on a psychological mechanism linking emotion with support for unlawful action: when people enjoy seeing a disliked institution hurt — especially one perceived as corrupt — that emotion can make illegal retaliation seem justified. This has implications for understanding public support for extralegal or Robin Hood-style behaviour in polarised societies.

The article, titled “When do two wrongs make a right? Schadenfreude and the legitimization of illegal attacks against corrupt national institutions”, is now out in the journal Emotion: https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001643