Psychology Commons^™

Mutability Of The Green-Eyed Monster: A Functional Approach To Understanding The Distinction Between Benign And Hostile Envy, Rachael G. Falcon

Psychology ETDs

Envy functions in resource competition situations in which a competitor out-competes oneself in a fitness relevant domain (Hill & Buss, 2006, 2008). Research suggests that there are two types of envy, a hostile version, aimed at depriving the envied person of his or her advantage, and a benign version, aimed at gaining an advantage for oneself (Parrott, 1991; van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2009). Three predictions were derived from the hypothesis that the selection of envy type is functional, taking into account the costs and benefits of a benign versus a hostile response: 1) Hostile envy was expected to …