Are there benefits to schadenfreude? Listen to 6 Minute English - YouTube
Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute
English, I'm Neil. This is
the programme where in just
six minutes we discuss an interesting
topic and teach some
related English vocabulary.
And joining me to do this is Rob.
Rob: Hello.
Neil: In this programme we're
discussing schadenfreude.
Rob: Hold on, Neil - schadenfreude - that's
a German word.
Neil: Schadenfreude is what we can call a
loanword - a word from one language that
is used in another language
without being changed.
Rob: So you're right - schadenfreude is
used in English and am I right
in thinking it describes
the satisfying feeling you get
when something bad
happens to someone else?
Neil: You're right, Rob.
Imagine you're in a queue at the
supermarket and someone pushes in,
but when they got to pay, their credit
card doesn't work - think of the feeling
you might get just seeing their misfortune
- another word for bad luck.
Rob: Yes, that is a very satisfying feeling
- but it's quite a mean feeling too.
Neil: It is but we'll be discussing why that
feeling could actually be good for us. But
first, let's set a question for you, Rob, and
our listeners at home, to answer. This is
about false cognates - also called
false friends - words that look
the same in two languages
but have different meanings. So in English
we have the word 'rat' but what does that
mean in German? Is it... a) a big mouse,
b) annoyed or c) advice?
Rob: That's tricky because I don't speak
German. So I'll guess and say b) annoyed.
Neil: Well, I'll have the answer later on.
Now, let's talk more about schadenfreude.
Enjoying someone's misfortune can
certainly make us feel good.
Rob: And studies have shown this feeling
is quite normal - particularly
when is happens to someone we envy.
If we see a wealthy celebrity suffering on
a reality TV show, or are exposed
for not paying their taxes, we feel good.
We say they've had their comeuppance.
Neil: That's a good word - meaning a
person's bad luck that is considered
to be deserved punishment for
something bad that they have done.
Rob: Let's hear from psychologist
Wilco Van Dijk from the
University of Leiden, who's
been talking about this on the
BBC Radio 4 programme, All in the Mind.
What have his studies found about
our enjoyment of others misfortune?
Wilco Van Dijk: People especially feel
schadenfreude when they think
the misfortune is deserved.
Then the question is where this joy arises,
is this actually joy experienced towards
the misfortunes of others or is it
also at least partly joy about
a just situation - that this
misfortune of another actually appeals to
a sense of justice. That's also the reason
why we like the misfortunes of hypocrites
because if they fall down that also is a
deserved situation.
Neil: OK, so Wilco Van Dijk's studies found
we get joy when someone's
misfortune is deserved
- there is justice - in other words,
the punishment someone receives is fair.
Rob: And a just situation means
a fair situation - it is right.
So I guess he's saying we're
not just being mean.
Neil: Yes. And he also mentioned the type
of people whose misfortune is
just and deserved,
are hypocrites - people who claim to have
certain moral beliefs but actually behave
in a way that shows they are not sincere.
Rob: The All in the Mind programme also
heard from another expert
on the subject - author
and historian of emotions,
Dr Tiffany Watt-Smith. She talked about
how schadenfreude is a subjective
thing - based on our feelings - and it's not
as simple as deciding what
is right or wrong.
What word does she use that
means to express sympathy to someone
about someone's bad luck?
Dr Tiffany Watt-Smith: We don't really
experience emotions, you know, as
either-or things, it's not black or white.
I think it's perfectly reasonable that we
could genuinely commiserate
with someone else's misfortune
at the same time as a terrible sly smile
spreading across our lips because,
you know, something we've envied about
them has turned out not to work
out so well or whatever it is. You know,
we have a much deeper ability
to hold contradictory emotions in mind,
much more so than your average
moral philosopher would allow.
Neil: Interesting stuff. She says when
something goes wrong for someone,
we have the ability to commiserate with
them - that's the word for expressing
sympathy to someone about their
bad luck.
Rob: So overall, Tiffany Watt-Smith thinks
we have a range of emotions
when we experience
schadenfreude - but these are
contradictory emotions - different
and opposite emotions.
Maybe, Neil, we should just be
nicer people?
Neil: No way! I loved seeing Germany
getting knocked out of last year's
World Cup - not really!
Talking of Germany, earlier we mentioned
false friends and I asked in English we
have the word 'rat' but what does
that mean in German? Is it...
a) a big mouse, b) annoyed,
c) advice? And Rob, you said...
Rob: I said b) annoyed.
Neil: And that is the wrong answer,
I'm afraid. The right answer is c) advice.
Well done if you knew that at home.
Now on to the vocabulary we looked at
in this programme.
Rob: So today we've been talking
about schadenfreude - that describes
the satisfying feeling you get when
something bad happens to someone else.
Neil: And that's an example of a loanword
- a word from one language that is used in
another language without being changed.
In this case German.
Rob: We mentioned comeuppance which
describes a person's misfortune
that is considered to be deserved
punishment for something bad
that they've done.
Neil: Next we mentioned justice - that's
the punishment someone receives
that is fair for what they've done.
And the word just describes
something that is fair and right.
Rob: Hypocrites are people who claim to
have certain moral beliefs
but actually behave
in a way that shows they are not sincere.
Neil: And finally commiserate is a word
that means expressing
sympathy to someone about
their bad luck. That's the verb.
The noun form is commiseration.
Rob: Well commiserations, Neil, we've
run out of time for this programme.
See you soon,
goodbye.
Neil: Goodbye!
