Chapter 24
Envy
People Affected: everyone older than 24 months
Type of Emotion: conceptual punishment
Conceptual Trigger: “ X, a former peer, is now higher rank than me ”
Mental Effect: negative
Key Feature: the more similar the peer, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: effect generally stronger in men
Synonym: not jealousy
Type of Emotion: conceptual punishment
Conceptual Trigger: “ X, a former peer, is now higher rank than me ”
Mental Effect: negative
Key Feature: the more similar the peer, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: effect generally stronger in men
Synonym: not jealousy
Purpose
Envy encourages everyone to reach their highest potential rank.
Envy punishes you if a former peer achieves higher rank than you. You envy siblings and classmates who are paid more than you. You envy co-workers who are promoted ahead of you.
Higher-ranking former peers are good proxies for your highest potential rank. Siblings had the same genes and childhood experience. Classmates and co-workers had the same rank and opportunities.
Envy is stopped by matching a higher-ranking peer. You stop envying a wealthier sibling or classmate when you become equally wealthy. You stop envying a senior co-worker when you are promoted to their level.
Envy acts like a non-urgent coercion. Coercions are negative effects that stop if you take action. Revenge, for example, stops when you retaliate. Envy is also a negative effect that stops if you take action. Envy stops if you increase your rank to match a higher-ranking peer.
Striving to reach your highest potential rank helps group survival. The more everyone strives for their highest potential rank, the more efficient a nation is.
Conceptual Trigger
Envy is often triggered when:
Envy is triggered by higher rank, not high rank. You do not envy a stranger driving a much better car than yours, like a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari. You do envy a sibling who drives a slightly better car than you.
Envy is only triggered by former peers. You envy a co-worker who is promoted ahead of you. You do not envy employees who are promoted at levels above or below you.
Reunions intensively trigger all four rank emotions. Reunions put many peers together to discuss how their ranks have changed. Pride, humiliation, humor and envy are being continuously triggered and the mental effects are strong.
Mental Effect
Envy encourages everyone to reach their highest potential rank.
Envy punishes you if a former peer achieves higher rank than you. You envy siblings and classmates who are paid more than you. You envy co-workers who are promoted ahead of you.
Higher-ranking former peers are good proxies for your highest potential rank. Siblings had the same genes and childhood experience. Classmates and co-workers had the same rank and opportunities.
Envy is stopped by matching a higher-ranking peer. You stop envying a wealthier sibling or classmate when you become equally wealthy. You stop envying a senior co-worker when you are promoted to their level.
Envy acts like a non-urgent coercion. Coercions are negative effects that stop if you take action. Revenge, for example, stops when you retaliate. Envy is also a negative effect that stops if you take action. Envy stops if you increase your rank to match a higher-ranking peer.
Striving to reach your highest potential rank helps group survival. The more everyone strives for their highest potential rank, the more efficient a nation is.
Conceptual Trigger
Envy is often triggered when:
- a sibling receives more parental attention
- a competitor wins an award and you do not
- a college classmate buys a bigger house than you
- a co-worker is given a larger office than you
- a neighbor buys a better car than you
- you attend a school reunion
Envy is triggered by higher rank, not high rank. You do not envy a stranger driving a much better car than yours, like a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari. You do envy a sibling who drives a slightly better car than you.
Envy is only triggered by former peers. You envy a co-worker who is promoted ahead of you. You do not envy employees who are promoted at levels above or below you.
Reunions intensively trigger all four rank emotions. Reunions put many peers together to discuss how their ranks have changed. Pride, humiliation, humor and envy are being continuously triggered and the mental effects are strong.
Mental Effect
Envy varies with peer similarity. The more similar a peer’s circumstances, the stronger the negative effect. Siblings usually trigger the strongest envy because they usually have the most similar circumstances.
Envy does not vary with the size of the peer’s rank increase. Unlike pride, envy is not stronger for larger increases in rank. You feel the same envy towards two brothers if one buys a house twice the size of yours and the other buys a house ten times the size of yours.
Envy is generally stronger in men. For the same peer similarity, men feel a stronger negative effect than women. Men are more concerned about differences in wealth. Men are more concerned about co-workers being promoted ahead of them.
Unlike the other rank emotions, envy is permanent. The other rank emotions stop without any effort on your part. Pride stops when your higher rank is not higher anymore. Humiliation stops when your lower rank is not lower anymore. Humor stops the second time you learn about another’s mistake. Envy does not stop unless you close the gap between you and your higher-ranking former peer.
The best reason to be top ranked is not feeling envy. The pride you feel is temporary. The envy that your former peers feel is permanent, unless they increase their rank.
Other Species
Capuchin monkeys feel envy. Capuchin monkeys will take grapes or cucumber if offered, but prefer grapes. They will take cucumber if they see that another monkey is given cucumber. They will not take cucumber if they see that another monkey is given grapes. Monkeys Reject Unequal Pay (Nature) summarizes this research, which was led by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal.
Chimpanzees feel envy and revenge. In California, captive chimpanzees attacked a man who was giving another chimp special treatment. The attacking chimpanzees bit off the man’s nose, foot and testicles. They attacked when they saw the man bring a birthday cake to another chimp. The man had been making daily visits to the birthday chimp during the eight weeks preceding the attack. This visit was different because it included a cake. Birthday Party Turns Bloody When Chimps Attack was reported by USA Today.
Envy does not vary with the size of the peer’s rank increase. Unlike pride, envy is not stronger for larger increases in rank. You feel the same envy towards two brothers if one buys a house twice the size of yours and the other buys a house ten times the size of yours.
Envy is generally stronger in men. For the same peer similarity, men feel a stronger negative effect than women. Men are more concerned about differences in wealth. Men are more concerned about co-workers being promoted ahead of them.
Unlike the other rank emotions, envy is permanent. The other rank emotions stop without any effort on your part. Pride stops when your higher rank is not higher anymore. Humiliation stops when your lower rank is not lower anymore. Humor stops the second time you learn about another’s mistake. Envy does not stop unless you close the gap between you and your higher-ranking former peer.
The best reason to be top ranked is not feeling envy. The pride you feel is temporary. The envy that your former peers feel is permanent, unless they increase their rank.
Other Species
Capuchin monkeys feel envy. Capuchin monkeys will take grapes or cucumber if offered, but prefer grapes. They will take cucumber if they see that another monkey is given cucumber. They will not take cucumber if they see that another monkey is given grapes. Monkeys Reject Unequal Pay (Nature) summarizes this research, which was led by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal.
Chimpanzees feel envy and revenge. In California, captive chimpanzees attacked a man who was giving another chimp special treatment. The attacking chimpanzees bit off the man’s nose, foot and testicles. They attacked when they saw the man bring a birthday cake to another chimp. The man had been making daily visits to the birthday chimp during the eight weeks preceding the attack. This visit was different because it included a cake. Birthday Party Turns Bloody When Chimps Attack was reported by USA Today.
Happiness Dissected is a more practical version of The Origin of Emotions.