Are people more likely to experience Schadenfreude online?
There is a lot of Schadenfreude content on the Internet, as YouTube is filled with “fail” videos, and tv shows like MTV’s Ridiculousness consist of nothing but people harming themselves for laughs. This has become more common on social media platforms, and has found a niche due to viewers feeling some type of malicious joy at watching others fail. Schadenfreude experienced online and in person are different, possibly due to the lack of stigma around laughing at someone who fails when doing so on the Internet, or their anonymity while online. Asynchronicity, or thinking that your actions on the web are not held to the same standard as in real life, was one of the six factors that could combine to change a person’s behavior online, and Psychologist John Suller described the six in a paper titled “The Online Disinhibition Effect.” In the paper, he examines various factors that in conjunction, provoke people to behave differently online than they do in person. These factors may give insight as to why the Internet has turned into a breeding ground for Schadenfreude. Does reacting via the Internet make people less empathetic and more inclined to Schadenfreudian feelings?
The first factor described in Suller’s research is Invisibility, and he believes that, “This invisibility gives people the courage to go places and do things that they otherwise wouldn’t” (Suller 2). In addition to invisibility, he describes how another factor, dissociative anonymity, which is crucial for understanding why people’s behavior differs online from in person, “When people have the opportunity to separate their actions online from their in-person lifestyle and identity, they feel less vulnerable about self-disclosing and acting out” (Suller 2). People could feel more Schadenfreudian feelings deep down, but might be more hesitant to express them in the real world due to feeling judged on their moral identity.
If the internet has turned into a breeding ground for Schadenfreude, then how could that be effecting people in the real world? Specifically, constant viewership of YouTube “fail” videos, or ridicule of people on shows like America’s Funniest Home Videos may have more of an effect on our attitude towards real life situations of Scahdenfreude. The frequency that these types of videos or pictures are seen online and on TV may be effecting people’s levels of empathy towards others, and setting up a large portion of the population to have a disposition of pleasure at the expense of others’ failures. Cyberbullying and offline bullying are prevalent occurrences among young adults, and people who partake in both may exhibit similar emotions to those who experience Scahdennfreude. In a study conducted by Pfetsch of Berlin, Germany, the relationship between different empathic measures were compared in online and offline bullying. The author describes how, “empathic accuracy was significantly negatively linked to offline bullying behavior…(and) emotional congruence was a predictor of cyberbullying behavior” (Pfetsch 1). Empathic accuracy is someone’s ability to essentially put themselves in someone else’s shoes and infer their thoughts or feelings, while emotional congruence is paying selective attention to one’s world based on how one is feeling. Since there is research on the applications of empathy as a predictor of cyberbullying and offline bullying behaviors, there should be more research done on empathy relating to Scahdenfreude both on and off of the internet. There may even be a link between the abundance of Scahdenfreude in the online media of the United States and the prevalence of bullying in our society.
References
Pfetsch, J. (n.d.). Online aggression tendencies and cognitive empathy. Retrieved April 27, 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327755689_ONLINE_AGGRESSION_TENDENCIES_AND_COGNITIVE_EMPATHY_TOWARDS_THE_VICTIM_OF_CYBERBULLYING_IN_ADOLESCENTS
Suller, J. (n.d.). The online disinhibition effect. Retrieved April 27, 2022, from http://www.samblackman.org/Articles/Suler.pdf
