Knowra Envy Envy Envy is an emotion arising from wanting an advantage, possession, or quality that another person has. It can involve resentment toward the person who has it.
Social comparison theory : A theory that people evaluate their abilities and opinions by comparing themselves with others. Envy often begins when comparison makes another person's advantage feel personally significant.
Desire : A motivational state directed toward obtaining or experiencing something. Envy includes wanting an advantage or quality that belongs to someone else.
Aristotle : An ancient Greek philosopher whose works shaped Western ethics, politics, and metaphysics. In the Rhetoric, Aristotle analyzed envy as pain at the apparent good fortune of equals.
Workplace envy : Envy arising among colleagues over status, recognition, opportunities, or resources at work. Promotion and recognition make workplace advantages especially visible and comparable.
Benign envy and motivation : The proposed link between envy and effort to attain an advantage possessed by another person. A central question is whether envy reliably prompts improvement rather than resentment.
Upward social comparison : Comparison with someone perceived as better off or more capable in a relevant respect. This comparison supplies the perceived advantage that envy centers on.
Resentment : Bitter displeasure at a perceived wrong, insult, or unfair advantage. Envy may acquire a resentful edge when another person's advantage seems undeserved.
Thomas Aquinas : A medieval theologian and philosopher who integrated Aristotelian thought with Christian theology. Aquinas defined envy as sorrow at another's good insofar as it seems to diminish one's own standing.
Consumerism : A social and economic pattern that encourages acquiring goods as a route to satisfaction or status. Visible possessions can turn social comparison into envy and pressure to consume.
Envy measurement : Methods for assessing envy through self-report, behavior, or experimental tasks. Different definitions and measures can produce different conclusions about envy’s effects.
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