page_title: Envy
section_title: Socioevolutionary view
hierarchical_section_title: Envy / Socioevolutionary view
caption_attribution_description: Life of Christ
context_page_description: Envy is an emotion which "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it".
  Aristotle defined envy as pain at the sight of another’s good fortune, stirred by “those who have what we ought to have.” Bertrand Russell said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness. Not only is the envious person rendered unhappy by their envy, Russell argued, but that person may also wish to inflict misfortune on others to reduce their status. Psychologists distinguish "true" envy from benign envy—malicious envy being proposed as an unpleasant emotion that causes the envious person to want to bring down the better-off even at their own cost, while benign envy involves recognition of other's being better-off, but causes the person to aspire to be as good.
context_section_description: One theory that helps explain envy and its effects on human behavior is the socioevolutionary theory. Based upon Charles Darwin's 1859 theory of evolution by natural selection, modern socio-evolutionary theory predicts that humans behave in ways that enhance the reproduction of their genes. Consistent with envy being a motivation, it may boost attention and memory. Based on a model of evolved responses to those who are better off, Sznycer has argued that envy increases support for economic redistribution.
caption: Invidia, allegorical painting by Giotto di Bondone, ca. 1305-1306
exif: {}