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Understand how and why we feel envy, the famous elbow pain

One of the ways found by ancient peoples to understand nature and human behavior led them to mythology.

In Greco-Roman mythology, for example, there is a series of teachings and myths that sought to explain natural and behavioral phenomena. The protagonists of these myths were gods and goddesses, immortal creatures, endowed with special powers, but with essentially human characteristics. In these terms, the plots of the myths were always permeated by intrigues, passionate reactions, disillusionment, revenge and, above all, envy. And they all expressed an attempt to understand the world and human nature.

What the ancients might not have known is that what they sought to understand through mystical creatures and epics could be explained by science as well.

Yes, envy, that feeling that we all already feel, can be understood scientifically. A study developed by researchers Mina Cikara and Susan Fiske, from Princeton University, USA, proved that elbow pain is not just a metaphor. She is biologically motivated.

explaining elbow pain

The pleasure that the person who has an elbow pain feels in the face of the misfortune of the envied is called Schadenfreude (Schade: pity and Freude: joy), a German word that can be translated as "malicious joy" or "joy in grief".

What the researchers' study found is that people are biologically conditioned to feel the Schadenfreude, especially when someone they envy is unsuccessful or suffers some loss. The study was divided into four different experiments.

In the first experiment, the researchers examined the participants' physical responses, monitoring their facial movements through an electromyography (EMG), a machine that captures the electrical activity of facial movements. Participants were shown photographs of individuals associated with the different stereotypes: the elderly (pity), students or Americans (pride), drug addicts (disgust) and wealthy professionals (envy). These images were then combined with daily events such as: "won five dollars" (positive) or "got soaked in a taxi" (negative) or "went to the bathroom" (neutral).

The volunteers' facial movements were recorded as the experiment progressed.

In the second experiment, the researchers used functional MRI to measure changes in blood flow, along with brain activity, in order to determine whether participants were willing to harm certain groups. Participants saw the same photos and events from the first study and were asked to rate how they felt on a scale of 1-9 (from extremely bad to very good). Similar results emerged: participants felt bad when something good happened to rich professionals and good when something bad happened.

The third experiment involved several situations enacted by an investment banker: in the first, the banker was himself, which incited envy. On Monday, he was counseling clients pro-bono, which incited pride. In the next, he was using his work bonuses to buy drugs, which incited disgust, and finally, in the last situation he was unemployed but still dressed to go to work, which theoretically should incite pity. In this experiment, participants showed less affection and compassion when faced with situations that provoked envy and aversion.

Finally, in the last experiment, scenes of the participants' favorite baseball teams were shown. These were scenes in which there were spectacular and unsuccessful plays. Unsurprisingly, participants showed more pleasure in following the scenes in which their favorite teams were successful.

In a second moment, scenes were shown showing the performance of rival teams to the participants' favorite teams. The research volunteers sketched happiness and pleasure in following their rivals' poor performance, even when they played against teams of little expression. It was also found that, during the plays, the fans were inclined to curse, insult and even hurt their rivals.

According to the researchers, these experiments capture everyday moments of Schadenfreude that we are all subject to experience. For them, not all lack of empathy for something or someone can be considered a pathological condition, since it is just a human reaction. However, what they question is about competitiveness. In the words of Mina Cikara, in fact, in some circumstances, competitiveness can be a good thing. But on the other hand, bringing out competitiveness in people and inciting this aspect of human nature, as many companies and organizations do, can be worrisome and lead to unnecessary rivalries, which can do harm to both the envious and the envied.

The bitter sweet of envy

When a person feels elbow pain (envy), the region of the cerebral cortex that is activated is the same region that is activated when we feel physical pain. This is the anterior cingulate cortex. When the target of envy suffers some kind of misfortune, the region of cortex activated in the brain of the one who envy is the same activated when we feel pleasure. This region is called the ventral striatum.

This mapping of envy processing was done by neuroscientist Hidehiko Takahashi, from the National Institute of Radiological Science in Tokyo. According to the researcher, envy is a painful emotion that is accompanied by a feeling of inferiority. This is why the envious person feels pleasure when he sees the envied person suffering or failing: the misfortune of the envied person makes this feeling of inferiority replaced by the feeling of reassurance and, above all, of self-satisfaction.

One of the chronic ills of the new generation?

These days, everything is a race to the podium. Our social paradigm is very competitive and being successful is no longer a differential. What really matters is being extremely successful: getting promoted, being recognized and being highly productive.

Competitiveness has even become an indicator of economic development. In other words, being competitive means being well-developed.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) annually develops a report that ranks countries according to competitiveness and related productivity levels. Factors such as education, unemployment rate and infrastructure are analyzed. According to the 2013-2014 Global Competitiveness Report, the most competitive country in the world is Switzerland, with a population of 7.9 million and a GDP per capita of US$79,033.

With the silver medal was Singapore, with a population of 5.2 million and a GDP per capita of US$51,162. The bronze medal went to Finland, with a population of 5.4 million and a GDP per capita of US$ 46,098. Brazil occupies the 56th position in the ranking, with a population of 196.7 million and a GDP per capita of US$ 12,079.

Preliminary tests, such as the one described in this article, it is important to remember, do not paint an overall picture of human feelings. What they do is analyze certain types of reactions in specific contexts. If the same test were carried out in an eastern country, for example, it is very likely that the results would be different. And, as the above statistics show, competitiveness is being valued, something that would certainly not have happened if it were possible to carry out such a survey in the Middle Ages, for example.

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