Posted on 01/19/2006 7:23:31 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
Men enjoy others' misfortune more than women
By Patricia Reaney
Thu Jan 19, 6:00 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Germans have a word for it -- schadenfreude -- and when it comes to getting pleasure from someone else's misfortune, men seem to enjoy it more than women.
Such is the conclusion reached by scientists at University College London in what they say is the first neuroscientific evidence of schadenfreude.
Using brain-imaging techniques, they compared how men and women reacted when watching other people suffer pain.
If the sufferer was someone they liked, areas of the brain linked to empathy and pain were activated in both sexes.
Women had a similar response if they disliked the person experiencing the pain but men showed a surge in the reward areas of the brain.
"The women had a diminished empathic response," said Dr Klaas Enoo Stephan, a co-author of the report. "But it was still there, whereas in the men it was completely absent," he added in an interview.
The scientists, who reported their findings in the journal Nature, said the research shows that empathic responses in men are shaped by the perceived fairness of others.
"Empathic responses to other people are not automatic, as has been assumed in the past, but depend on the emotional link to the person who is observed suffering," Stephan said.
In the two-part study, 32 men and women volunteers played a game in which they exchanged money with four other people who were actors playing a part.
The actors were either fair characters, who returned equal amounts of cash that have been given to them, or unfair people who gave little or no money back to the volunteers.
In the second part of the experiment, the volunteers were placed in magnetic imaging brain scanners as they watched the actors receiving a mild electric shock, similar to a bee sting.
The scientists measured reactions of the volunteers in areas of the brain associated with pain and empathy and reward while the actors experienced pain.
The responses shown in the brain images were backed up with questionnaires filled in by the volunteers. Men admitted to having a much higher desire for revenge than women and derived satisfaction from seeing the unfair person being punished.
"We will need to confirm these gender differences in larger studies because it is possible the experimental design favoured men as there was a physical rather than psychological or financial threat involved," said Dr Tania Singer, who led the study.
They have obviously never met my wife.
I can run jokes one after the other that get laughs from everyone and she just looks at me.
But let me reach for something on the kitchen counter and catch my head on the end of a cabinet door (OUCH!) and she is rolling on the floor.
This proves the FR moderators are all men!
I'm a female and I HIGHLY enjoy seeing someone evil getting what they deserve!
Sounds like my wife. She can sit through hours of the funniest stand up comics without laughing.
The only Schadenfreude she enjoys is when some guy in a movie gets hit in the balls.
Your poster name and the article title struck me as funny. Perfect article for you to post. ;o)
I think this may have more variations than was tested for. Men seem to enjoy watching someone on the recieving end of little things more than women, but women seem to derive much more satisfaction from big failures.
Men also don't mind seeing someone they like get a little pain in their life, while women almost always focus on those they do not like.
For example, 3 guys are standing on a porch and one leans on the railing which gives way and he falls into the thorny bushes below. The other two guys will pull him out, but only while laughing. Most women I know would think that the laughter was uncalled for, most men would think it was appropriate since he didn't get hurt too bad.
But, 2 guys are driving down the road and see a guy they don't like in another car. Suddenly, his car is broadsided. Most guys would become concerned and hope everyone is ok. Many women, seeing a woman they didn't like in an accident, would be much less concerned and maybe even develop a "serves her right" attitude.
"Happiness is getting your hair cut every two weeks and watching your neighbor fall off the roof" - unknown Chinese philisopher.
I don't believe this for a moment. In five decades of living, I have noted that, all other things being equal, it is MUCH better to be on the wrong side of a guy than a girl.
""Happiness is getting your hair cut every two weeks and watching your neighbor fall off the roof" - unknown Chinese philisopher."
Marvelous!
Dude, my wife must be a clone of yours, she couldn't buy a sense of humor if KMart had a sale when it comes to jokes, but if I do something stupid, like trip, bash my skull, or smash a finger, she will come close to wetting her pants laughing.
A good example is when she strung a 1/8 nylon rope across our back porch on New Years Eve so she could hang our sheets and blankets out to dry (it was a beautiful day here in SW Az) and left it up after she was done.
Well my dumba$$ was playing with the dog, he started chasing me, I ran off the porch, and BLAMO! I get clothes-lined! She falls to ground laughing uncontrolably. She still thinks it's the funniest thing she's ever seen.
I have the feeling that a whole string could run on this theme! :)
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