Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude is the German word for pleasure at someone else's misfortune. The body lights up with a small, guilty thrill when someone you dislike, envy, or compete with experiences a setback. The face wants to smile. The chest opens slightly. There is a flush of satisfaction that you may not want to acknowledge. Schadenfreude is one of the most universally felt and least admitted emotions humans have.

The reason English borrowed schadenfreude rather than producing its own word is partly that the feeling is uncomfortable enough that many cultures avoided naming it. The Germans named it bluntly (schaden = harm, freude = joy), and the word has spread globally because every language community recognises the feeling once it has been pointed out. Research has consistently shown schadenfreude is universal across cultures, even when the cultural attitudes toward expressing it differ.

This page covers what schadenfreude feels like in the body, what it is often confused with, why it shows up, what helps when it is corrosive, and the related emotions.

Where schadenfreude lives in the body

Schadenfreude has a small, quick body signature. The face wants to smile but often tries not to. The chest holds a brief light pleasure. The stomach may have a guilty churn underneath the satisfaction. There is sometimes a particular quality of involuntary laughter or grin that the person tries to suppress. The body is registering pleasure while the mind is registering that this is supposed to be a bad feeling to have.

Research on schadenfreude has consistently shown it is universal across cultures and present in young children, suggesting it is biologically built in rather than purely learned (Smith et al., 2009). Functional MRI studies have found that schadenfreude activates reward processing regions similar to those involved in straightforward pleasure, particularly when the misfortune befalls someone the person envies or sees as a competitor. The feeling is often suppressed because of moral and social norms, but the underlying response appears to be a basic feature of social cognition.

Schadenfreude is the emotion most adults feel and most adults will not admit to. The discomfort of admitting it is usually greater than the discomfort of the feeling itself.— A common observation in research on social emotions

What schadenfreude is often confused with

Why schadenfreude shows up

Schadenfreude is biologically built in but is triggered more strongly in certain conditions. Common patterns include:

• When a competitor or rival failsThe clearest case. Someone you are in implicit or explicit competition with experiences a setback. The body registers this as advantageous to you and produces the pleasure response. This is one of the most reliable triggers.
• When someone you envy experiences misfortuneThe colleague who got the promotion you wanted, the friend whose relationship seemed perfect, the person whose life looked better. When something difficult happens to them, the felt-equality is restored briefly, and the body lights up.
• When someone who has been arrogant or cruel fallsThere is often a particular pleasure when someone who has been unpleasant to others experiences consequences. This shades into justice satisfaction but usually carries more pleasure than fairness alone would account for.
• When the misfortune is small and the person is not closeSchadenfreude tends to be most accessible when the misfortune is mild (no serious harm) and the person is not someone you love. Serious harm to people you care about almost never produces schadenfreude, even in conflict. Mild embarrassment for a distant rival reliably does.

What helps

Schadenfreude is universal and not removable. The practices below help when it has become corrosive or when it is interfering with relationships and self-perception.

Acknowledge it rather than deny it

The shame about feeling schadenfreude is usually worse than the schadenfreude itself. Pretending you do not feel it does not remove it. Acknowledging 'I felt pleasure at their misfortune' clearly to yourself often takes the heat out. The denial is what keeps it operating in the background.

Examine what it is telling you

Schadenfreude often points at unaddressed envy, resentment, or competitive feelings. The pleasure at their fall reveals where you have been feeling diminished by their rise. Treating schadenfreude as information about your own state, rather than as a moral failure, often leads to more useful self-knowledge.

Do not act on it

Feeling schadenfreude is universal. Spreading the misfortune, telling others, prolonging the conversation about it, or piling on is something else. The feeling is not the action. Catching yourself before acting on schadenfreude is the line between ordinary humanity and cruelty.

Notice when it has tipped into chronic enjoyment

Brief schadenfreude is normal. A regular diet of pleasure at others' misfortunes, particularly through media or social platforms designed to deliver it, is corrosive. The person who consistently consumes schadenfreude often hardens over time. The capacity for compassion erodes.

If schadenfreude feels constant or driving

Pervasive schadenfreude, particularly when paired with chronic resentment, envy, or hatred, can signal that something underneath needs attention. Sometimes this is depression presenting as cynicism. Sometimes it is unprocessed wounding from earlier in life. Therapy that engages with the underlying pattern, rather than trying to suppress the schadenfreude, often helps.

Related emotions

Schadenfreude sits in the social family because it specifically arises in relation to other people. It overlaps with envy when the misfortunate person is someone you wanted to outdo, with revenge when the misfortune feels like rebalancing, and with contempt when you considered them beneath you anyway.

Common questions