Category: Envy

Numerous sounds in conversations have entanglements extremely close. A pair of before-mentioned titles are the topic of the draft below. Have you ever been jealous of someone? Maybe jealous of your friend getting closer to him you dislike. Have you envied others because of any quality they have which you lack? Maybe you envy that the girl next door has a collection of latest fashion outfits and you don’t? Are you certain that you are employing these terminologies in the appropriate sentences? There would have been varied instances when readers would have agonized past the thought- Is there a difference between envy and jealousy?

Indeed there is! Well, our readers have landed on the perfect article to put an end to their search. We will soon discover the corresponding in this article. Prior to digging deeper to explain what is the difference between envy and jealousy, let us learn in brief exposure of anything these terminologies signify.

What is the difference between jealousy and envy?

Jealousy concerns circumstances regarding that you own (ordinarily a connection) and envy, on the opposite, solicitudes regarding others’ own. In a nutshell, we can describe the main difference between jealousy and envy as “Jealousy is over MINE things and Envy is over YOUR things”.

Want to achieve some deep meaningful insights? Cmon! let’s uncover the layers independently so that next time you know which term to employ best in what situation.

Let’s first look at the in-depth elucidations of each of those terms.

Definition of Jealousy

It means a nervous situation of failing in either one’s status or sense of importance to a human, mostly concerning a bond with him. Shakespeare rightly named it as the green-eyed monster. It signifies holding to the present, especially in a relationship. It reflects a sense of animosity for a person who is “developing”. Probably you are a little bit scared of the consequences if the third individual advances to a greater extent. It ordinarily implies the emotional dispute among individuals.

For instance: Justin’s jealous of Sherin’s male friends. Shanaya felt jealous when Alex chose Rose over her.

Obtained the noticeable distinction? In the majority of cases, it is mostly regarding any individual. To comprehend the jealousy and envy difference, it is crucial to peek a sight on the explication of envy too. So, why delay? Let’s see.

Definition of envy

Envy is a desire for having other’s possession. It majorly revolves around whatever other has. Counted among 7 fatal sins, envy signals a sense of unfulfillment because of being attracted to other’s belongings or expertise. If anyone is envious he/she is discontented with those who are further affluent to himself/herself or things they possess.

For instance: I envy your ability to sing. I envy your new laptop.

Conclusion

So, is it jealousy or envy? Guess now after the above discussion you would be better able to figure it out. Just to summarize, the former encapsulates a feeling of panic that someone or something would replace your ownership. Whereas the latter stands for a longing to have someone else’s things.

It seems that the difference between envy and jealousy, is easy to understand but it is not. Many times lack of context provides a wrong sense. For instance, when a guy/girl says “ I am jealous” this is not a clear indication. It could have been clearer with the context- “I am jealous of Sofia talking to the attractive guy”.

Secondly, the point to be noted here is that seldom jealousy and envy travel together. In the above instance, it is actually the characteristic that you are inclining to rival that is attractive. This suggests that when someone is jealous sometimes it will happen that he is feeling envious as well.

What’s the difference between envy and jealousy – We are sure now that would have become pretty clear. A preponderance of the mass blur the differences between the two easily. So, don’t get confused when they are employed in a different manner in different places.

Hope that this article was worth your attention and read. Now when you encounter the two words you would know exactly what is the difference between jealousy and envy. Have fun in explaining the difference to others!

The jealous are troublesome to themselves and tormentous to others. They create a path of destruction detrimental to themselves and those closest to them. Envy has the power to overrule even the sanest of people. In William Shakespeares’ Othello, jealousy is a prime emotion felt by both Othello and Roderigo, leading them to be unquestionably obedient and suffer immensely. Ultimately, it is Othello who is affected the most by his own begrudging actions. The extreme envy felt by Othello and Roderigo causes them to become blindly follow orders and their internal thoughts. Othello’s jealousy blinds him into believing Iago’s words, as well as his internal thoughts. Similarly, Roderigo’s jealousy allows Iago to easily manipulate his actions. These envious actions of Roderigo and Othello leads to their suffering, especially for Othello. Roderigo’s apprehensive, violent acts leads him into great physical suffering. Likewise, Othello’s envy leads him to make life-altering decisions that will cause him both physical and emotional anguish. Throughout the text, Roderigo and Othello are blindly obedient, which is directly fuels from their jealousy.

The jealousy that Othello and Roderigo feel leads them to become blindly obedient to the words of others and their internal thoughts. Iago’s stories of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness fills Othello with jealousy and causes him to blindly believe Iago’s suggestions. In the early stages of the play, Iago and Othello are walking together when they come across Desdemona and Cassio conversing. Upon noticing Othello, Cassio steals “away so guilty-like” (Shakespeare 3.3.38), in the words of Iago. Othello, who thinks nothing of Cassio’s actions, becomes suspicious because of this comment by Iago. This is the beginning of Othello’s jealousy. Othello believes Iago without thinking for himself, simply because he is envious of Cassio’s interaction with his wife. He now has reason to believe his wife is unfaithful, which fuels his envy and leads him to blindly follow Iago’s words. Similarly, Othello’s jealousy leads him to unquestioningly follow the words in his head and murder his wife. When Othello receives word that Cassio may be dead, he takes this as a signal to kill his wife, which he believes is the only way to proceed with his wife’s unfaithfulness. In the final moments, before the murder is complete, Othello convinces himself that “It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.” (Shakespeare 5.2. 1). He believes the only way he can calm his soul and keep his reason is to murder Desdemona. Othello is so full of jealousy that he blindly kills his wife, without allowing himself catharsis before moving forward with his actions. In comparison to Othello, Roderigo also allows his envy to let others control his actions. In the beginning of the play, Roderigo seeks out Brabantio, the father of Desdemona, to tell him of Desdemona and Othello’s affairs. Roderigo and Iago are walking together when they pass Barbantio’s home. Iago tells Roderigo to “Call up her father.” (Shakespeare 1.1. 69), to which Roderigo complies calling “What, ho, Brabantio! Ho Signor Brabantio, ho!” (Shakespeare 1.1. 80). Under Iago’s instruction, Roderigo calls out to Brabantio’s, with the intent of telling Brabantio about his daughter’s secret affairs. Roderigo does this purely out of jealousy. He wants to be the one with Desdemona and believes that if he tells Brabantio, Desdemona will be forced to leave Othello. Roderigo knows Brabantio will be irate upon learning his daughter is having an affair with Othello and hopes Brabantio will force them to separate, allowing Roderigo a chance to create his own relationship with Desdemona. In addition to this, Roderigo gives Iago a large sum of his money, leaving him broke, out of pure jealousy over Desdemona. This takes place when Iago finds Roderigo, who is distraught that Brabantio is giving Desdemona and Othello his blessing. Iago tells Roderigo to “Traverse, go, provide thy money.” (Shakespeare 1.3. 364), and he will be able to get Desdemona for him. Roderigo is so full of envy of Othello’s relationship, that he immediately agrees to provide Iago with the money the very next day. Iago promises Roderigo that by giving him the money, Iago will be able to enact his plan to separate Othello and Desdemona, allowing Roderigo to have Desdemona. Roderigo believes Iago’s words without any of his own thoughts, simply because he is jealous. A conclusion can be drawn that both Othello and Roderigo allow jealousy to control them, which in turn creates negative actions, which will play into their inevitable suffering.

In addition to their display of blind obedience, Othello and Roderigo’s jealousy also leads to incredible suffering, which is ultimately felt more greatly by Othello. Othello’s envy of Cassio’s supposed relationship with Desdemona leads him to suffer emotionally, in the form of his wife’s death. Othello, upon realizing the ploy set up by Iago, and the wrongful conviction of his wife deems he “Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away / Richer than all his tribe.” (Shakespeare 5.2. 363-364). Othello is only now feeling the full impact of losing his wife. He is telling Cassio and Lodovico how foolish he is to murder his wife, which shows how greatly he is suffering. When he finds Iago’s stories of his wife are false, and she is actually a loving, faithful wife, his emotional suffering is at its highest. The emotional pain he feels is similar to the physical pain he is about to feel when he takes the next step and takes his own life. A few moments after finding Iago’s stories are false, and he murders his innocent wife, Othello stabs himself. As Othello dies over Desdemona’s body, he says “I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, / Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.” (Shakespeare 5.2. 375-376). Othello’s jealousy brings him to his death. He allows his envious emotions to build-up to a boiling point and eventually takes the final step, which in turn is his greatest bought of suffering. Othello let envy control him to the point where he can no longer stand to live. The suffering Othello feels is far greater compared to the suffering felt by Roderigo. Roderigo, similar to Othello, involves himself in violent acts, simply because he is jealous. Roderigo’s jealousy leads him into a fight with Cassio, who has been spending time with Desdemona, where he is beaten badly. Roderigo, Cassio, Iago, and several other characters are celebrating and drinking when a fight breaks out in which Cassio hits Roderigo and injures him. Later on in the night, Roderigo converses with Iago, telling him his “money is almost spent” (Shakespeare 2.3. 344.) and “been tonight exceedingly well cudgeled.” (Shakespeare 2.3 345). Roderigo, who as discussed earlier, gave a large portion of his money to Iago out of pure envy, has now also been beaten by Cassio, which has caused him a great deal of physical suffering. Roderigo chose to fight Cassio out of his trust in Iago, which Iago creates from Roderigo’s envy. This action leads Roderigo to suffer physical pain. Similarly, Roderigo believes killing Cassio will cure his jealousy and give him Desdemona, which leads him to again, suffer physical pain. Iago and Roderigo are waiting together behind a wall when Cassio walks by. Iago tells Roderigo to attempt to stab Cassio, and Roderigo complies. When Roderigo attempts to stab Cassio he (Cassio) draws a sword and stabs Roderigo, who exclaims, “Oh, I am slain.” (Shakespeare 5.1. 27). Roderigo takes this action out of pure envy, hoping he will kill Cassio, thus removing any threats from Desdemona and allow himself to create a relationship with her. Roderigo’s attempt is not successful and leads to his stabbing and incredible physical suffering, and a few lines later, his death by a second stab from Iago. Roderigo’s suffering is far less than that of Othello’s as he does not go through as much emotional turmoil as Othello does. Roderigo does not experience the intense emotions that Othello feels and he does not commit any actual murder. For these reasons, Othello suffers far more than Roderigo. To bring everything to a close, Roderigo and Othello’s incredible envy leads to their immense suffering, which Othello feels in a greater way.

Jealousy is a prime emotion felt by both Othello and Roderigo, which leads them to be blindly obedient and suffer immensely, ultimately felt by Othello the most. This intense envy causes both characters to unquestioningly follow orders. Othello’s envy of Desdemona’s relationship with Cassio leads him to aimlessly follow Iago’s words and his internal thoughts. Similarly to Othello, Roderigo’s extreme jealousy allows Iago to control his actions with ease. Othello and Roderigo’s envious actions leads to their suffering, especially Othello’s. Othello’s anxious actions lead to his emotional and physical suffering. Similarly, Roderigo’s jealous acts of violence lead to his physical suffering. In the end, envy has the power to control even the strongest of people and lead them into actions that will cause them unbearable anguish.

It is generally agreed today that Friendships, who like and dislike the same things, that is indeed true friendship. But it is true? Friendship can share everything but when it comes to what you love most, it seems that friendship is in danger of breaking down. One of the same friendships we might see in Edith Wharton’s short story “Roman Fever”, he tells of a friendship of two women who grew up, playing together, share everything but there is one thing they can’t share that is their happiness. That cause they are rival together in the envious of each person in Roman Fever. Is it a coincidence or intentional? Images of the two women and the Colosseum is a scene, looking like two boxers on the arena, they scramble for love as a trophy. Their friendship has been changed into enemies.

Alida Slade and Grace Ansley had been best friend for a long time. However, it was abnormal relationship. Both of them were not sincere with each other.

First of all, let’s talk about Mrs. Slade. When Mrs. Slade was young, she had been a confident and dashing girl that was called “vividness” by someone. She usually flouted her close friend – Mrs. Ansley who in her opinion was bored and old-fashioned “Funny where she got it, with those nullities as parent… Museum specimens of old New York. Good-looking, irreproachable, exemplary”. However, most of Mrs. Slade’s life, she had envied that woman for her quiet way and sweetness. She even felt unhappy because her daughter was not excellent as Mrs. Ansley’s daughter. She was really afraid that Mrs. Ansley would be obstacle and block her way. That selfishness reached a climax when she sent to Mrs. Slade a Delphin’s false letter to get her out of the way and she gloat with what she did “I remember laughing to myself all that evening at the idea that you were waiting around there in the dark, dodging out of sight, listening for every sound, trying to get in”. Nevertheless, at the end, she numbly knew her groom was not only come to meet Mrs. Ansley that night but he also given her a child. Truly, life is full of surprise, and not all of them are good.

About Mrs. Ansley, was she really a true friend of Mrs. Slade? In her mind, Mrs. Slade’s image was drawn with slight and faint touches. She thought that “Mrs. Slade had a sad life. Full of failures and mistakes” and she always felt pity for her. However, there were not the worst. She fell in love with the man who she knew that would be her friend’s husband. This was impossible in a friendship. She did not care to lose a friend to have a night with him. Mrs. Ansley and Delphin – both of them betrayed Mrs. Slade. And when Mrs. Slade said that she was person who wrote this letter, she cried, but because it was not Delphin’s “Mrs. Ansley’s hand dropped to her knees, the face they uncovered was streaked with tears… It was the only letter I had.” After many year, she even never regretted with what she did for her best friend. People usually think about their own benefits before thinking of others.

Women are envy, selfish, and spiteful. At least this is the rather judgmental generalization made clear in Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever,” from a feminist point of view. Women are known for envying and judging one another constantly. Two women “Each one, of course, had a label ready to attach to the other’s name.” Women very often have made up their minds about people before even becoming fully acquainted. Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley have considered themselves to be lifelong, intimate friends, yet they judge each more quickly than most and are surprised by how much they really don’t know about. And because of their gender, they will never change their spiteful, jealous nature and will continue to sit, knit, gossip, and silently judge.

Nelson Mandela said, “There is enough on Earth for every one’s need, but not for every one’s greed”. In my opinion, people nowadays are increasingly selfish, envy fulfilling their own desires at all costs. Think about it, children are angry when they don’t get what they want, even if getting what they wanted would mean another kid had to suffer some kind of consequence. Frustrated, angry even if there are individuals who have bad habits when bringing their friend’s success story to another direction when they don’t have what the other person has. Especially for those of students who do not get good grades. So they often envy by going to say bad words behind you. In friendship as well, don’t become a friend who is always on the lookout and count all the actions of your friend and then sink in sadness, worry … even angry when you see they have more than myself.

Previously I had an awesome friendship. We are classmate in middle school. She has a good job at Shipping Line, she often asks me to go shopping with her, she choosed expensive items without looking at the price. As for me, the job was not good at that time, I almost looked at her buying things. She paid for almost meals when we meet. I feel self- pity!. Over three months ago, she tried to appoint me and invited me to attend her wedding. She was going to marry an American and after that she would lived there. I was jealous of her right then. Why does she have a perfect life? while I am still struggling to find a good job. I did not attend her wedding because of my lazy. She called me and cried….so I lost an awesome friendship. Selfish as well as envy had killed a relationship.

Instead of attending too much to the points of my friend why don’t we improve ourselves by trying harder to improve ourselves more and take that goal to strive for ourselves, don’t compare yourself with others to become self-deprecating and fall.

The envy of friendship if it is at a moderate level will help people to improve themselves, help friendship last forever and you will be friends to progress further on the journey. Be knowledgeable to see things through the wide-angle prism, don’t confine yourself like a snail and should take care of yourself at all times.

Envy is an intense desire to have an item that someone else possesses or desire of becoming like someone else. It arises when we see that another possesses something, we do not have but we would like to have. Envy is really a bad feeling which I think everyone has but to which no one admits. its not always intense but its normal for everyone to say like ‘I want be like that person’ may be because you love him, or he is your role model and you feel like becoming like him could be an accomplishment in your life.

Envy is part of capital sins, it becomes a sin because when you are envying something or someone it tends to be secret and you can’t even say it loud, even when we look in biblical teachings we find that they are some who were cursed like Cain, who killed his brother Abel because of envy or Joseph who were sold by his brothers also because of envy. It needs to be controlled because it tends to get on stage where someone takes a bad decision.

“In twelve ways your phone is changing you” (chap 6), Tony shows us that we become like what we “like”. He says this in terms of social media, this is my point of view, like I can spend like an hour two on socials media liking pages of influencers because I like fashion and dressing nicely. When I see shoes that I love on someone else, it makes me feel like doing research until I find that particular shoes and when they are expensive at moment I am like I can’t afford which also arise a desire to say like I want to be like her, I envy what she has but the only different is that it is not intense I don’t get jealous or have a feeling to doing bad thing to achieve what I want. But seeing all those images and videos, it keeps shaping me and sometimes it does transform me.

How about doing things just to fit in society or just to get approved. Yes it did happen like creating an Instagram account to be like my friends ,post picture and likes and a lot of followers, I was this kind of person who didn’t like to put my life out but I did because I was afraid of what people around me would say , I did it to avoid the question why does she hide? Unfortunately, there is nothing.

When we care about what people thinks of us, it means we are worship them. it is sin we only must worship God who created us in his image and made us who are, that is really our identity. As the bible says and Tony explains “if we worship idols, we become like idols”, idols can not embrace us nor sees us but if “we worship Christ we become like Christ” which I said earlier we were created in his image so we likely to be like him, he shed his blood for me and you to be free from our sins. In him I have eternal hope and lasting joy. Which is the reason why I don’t want what this world gives me.

Even though we do all this to get approved in the society, sometimes it gets lonely(chap7). social media is supposed to make us together and stay connected but when you re sitting home waiting a friend to text you back and hours pass without a text, you start wondering what happened or why isn’t he responding. For real we not supposed to feel this type of way either way you will get a response but it just a matter of time which is the other negative side of technology, it made us think that everything must be fast. We get lonely because there is a preference of using our smartphones and push people way. Like for me every time I walk on street alone, I must put on my headphones just to avoid interaction with people it shows that I am not interested with outside communication.

It is not only this but its also affect my relationship with God, I was taught to pray before doing anything , today every morning instead of waking up and sit on my bed to thank God for my life, for my friend for family, and to thank that I am still breathing , the first thing I do is taking my phone and go on all social and media when I am done that’s when I pray. I know I should put God first in everything I do but sometimes Satan is just there to show that he is also fighting for his followers. But its been days now I took a decision of confiding in God and put him first which so far is changing my life ,the more I engage with him the more I get to know some behaviors that I need to stop because to be with God is not easy since we are living in this world of distraction but they are things ,I need to give up in order to follow him and put aside loneliness.

As we all know kindness is the cure of envy, we do this by putting in place the desire to help others above the need to supersede them. It can be easy to cure but first, we need to accept ourselves. So instead of being jealous of those we want to become in terms of career, personality or life goals, we just must admire and look up to them, make them friends and learn how they reach their success. Everyone merits to be treated with kindness, even those who are less wealth than we are, we must be kind to them. Kindness is very contagious if everyone were kind, it can make world we are living in a better place.

Charles Spurgeon said” permit not your minds to be easily distracted, or you will often have your devotion destroyed” Tony said “ vital to our spiritual health, we must listen and hear God’s voice saying to us “be still, and know that I am God”. So, to overcome this envy we have to put our faith in divine strength to help us, because by ourselves is hard to change envious behavior but God is powerful.

Have you ever felt that life was unfair? After all, why X inherited such good / money from such parent, why Y looks so happy with his new companion, and especially why you, you have health / wealth / love / bar them – useless? This feeling is envy .

It is true that some people think that envy is a positive feeling, since it pushes you to accomplish great things in your life, in order to be better than others or to obtain what you have. not. However, envy does more harm than good , and it is not a desirable feeling for anyone who wants to live a happy life. Why should envy not be your friend?

First of all, we often believe that envy motivates us, that it pushes us to improve our life. But nothing is more wrong . Envy drives us to betray others, to try to sabotage their efforts, to spread rumors or to be hypocritical. Envy gnaws at us from the inside and makes us believe that we have been harmed by others. That we don’t have what we deserve. Obviously, it is always easier to pull others down than to rise above them .

Then, even if the urge motivates you to accomplish things in your life, it will not be what you want. What makes you want these things is simply because others have them too. It will not make you happier basically . Think of people who work 80 hours a week, in a job they hate, just to have more money than their entourage or their friends. Of course, they end up having more money than them, but they quickly realize that beyond this fleeting pride, earning more money does not make them happier.

Having more time for them would have been more beneficial. Unfortunately, this is a very frequent and tragic situation in our current society. Not to mention that even if you surpass a person in one aspect of their life, you will realize that they have surpassed you in another area . You earn more money than they do, but they have a better relationship than you. Alas! Later, you will even find people who earn more money than you, and your desire will only grow.

Because you will always find people who have something more than you in any field, you will always feel envious . You will spend your whole life feeling frustrated and resentful of others because they have something that you do not have. You understand that this is not really a good way to live your life.

4 Ways to Hunt Your Desire Now that we’ve seen what the urge is, it’s time to focus on how to get it out. Envy can be an emotion deeply rooted in us , and controlling it, extinguishing it, requires intelligent and adapted strategies. You probably thought it was enough to tell yourself to stop being envious, but in reality it is not that simple. Here are 4 tips that will help you get rid of this poison of envy:

Stop Learning About What Others Are Doing

In our world today, we are constantly encouraged to keep in touch with all those people we have ever met, and to know their lives in great detail. We connect to others through Facebook, Twitter and all social networks, so we know what one door, what another eats, the parties and parties they go to every day. But, when we learn something about someone, our brain automatically pushes us to compare ourselves to others . It’s human nature. And when we do, we find a lot of reasons to feel envious. Thus, knowing too much about the lives of others stimulates our desire.

There are currently studies that show, for example, that spending a lot of time on Facebook tends to decrease the satisfaction that one feels with one’s life, precisely because of this desire . In addition, we have a biased view of reality, because on social networks we only show the best of ourselves . You are not showing the world your last family dispute, your water damage or the dog who vomited on your carpet. This is why it is good to avoid being too informed about the lives of a large number of people. Of course, stay in touch with your friends and people who matter to you, know things about their lives, but don’t try to know everything about celebrities or vague acquaintances. It’s bad for you.

Recognize abundance

One of the reasons why we easily feel envious is because we think we don’t have enough in our life. We think we are in a state of craving all the time, we no longer see what we have but only what others have. By taking what we have for granted, we miss out on many things that make us happy . Make a list of what’s good in your life now!

On top of that, consciously or not, we feel that there are very few resources in this world and that if others take them, there will not be enough for us. If others earn a lot of money, there won’t be enough for us. If others are in a relationship with an attractive man or woman, there will be no one left for us. And so on.

But the truth is that although many resources are limited, the limits are very high. We live in a world of abundance and there will always be enough for you, whatever people say, whatever you may be thinking right now. Training to think like this is a great way to beat the urge. Become grateful for what you have and accept this world of abundance , and don’t let your mind make you think you’re going to be left behind. You will feel much more relaxed as well.

Learn to love yourself

Another very common reason why we are envious of others is because we do not have a good opinion of ourselves . So when we find something positive about someone, it reminds us of our own shortcomings . And when you have low self-esteem, being reminded of your own faults is not good.

By understanding this, it is therefore very important to learn to improve your self-esteem and to appreciate yourself at fair value. Not only will it help you become less envious, but it will also transform your life positively. Improving self-esteem is a long-term job, but it is well worth it because it is the source of many ailments, and also the best way to feel good in your life.

Improve your relationships

You may have noticed that we don’t feel envious when a close friend or family member does something great. This is the case because we are strongly emotionally connected to them, and their success is somehow ours too. So we are happy for them rather than envious .

This is why another way of overcoming envy, although often overlooked, is to build strong relationships with others. Having a lot of knowledge but no real friends doesn’t make your social life better, and it predisposes you to feel a lot of desire. Having a few close friends and spending the majority of your time with them, rather than just acquaintances, is the best way to go.

Strengthening your relationships with others will depend on your social skills , and above all on a good dose of charisma and self-confidence . Their absence often prevents people from developing deeper relationships with others, rather than superficial relationships to talk about rain and good weather.

Envy the most relatable of the seven deadly sins consumes so many of us on a day to day basis, but what exactly is envy? Envy has many different versions of the definition but the most commonly used is, wanting something that someone else has because you feel like they aren’t worthy enough for it. Envy can be defined in many different ways based on the person explaining it.Most people don’t like admitting that they are envious, and that is why envy is a secretly kept emotion, because most of us don’t want others to know that we feel envious of them. We are typically envious of those who we are similar to, but they are better in most aspects of their lives.

Most of the time envy causes you to work hard to try and be better than the person you envy, but then you keep finding yourself coming back and evaluating yourself and your self worth. Dante’s Inferno depicts envy to be one of the most unforgivable sins that a person can commit. It is heavily depicted to be connected to pride, and this is evident based on Dante’s organization of Hell. The envious and the prideful people are both punished in the same circle of Hell. This circle is cold and dirty. I believe that Dante created this as an allusion to depict the space/detachment from God and his love. In a way the author viewed envy as dangerous, unchristian like. This would explain why the envious are suffering in freezing water. In a way it’s like the realm furthest away from God and his love.

What causes people to be envious? The feeling that makes you want something that someone else has because you think that they don’t deserve it, or that you feel inferior. When we as humans get envious we try to ruin the person’s life, career, etc. because we feel that they are not worthy. But you are feeling envious because you are feeling inferior and not worthy. Envy destroys a lot of self worth in people, because seeing someone succeed or do better than you when you think that you are good makes you feel worthless and down about yourself. Sometimes your envy doesn’t actually come from you, it may start with your parents or the people you are living with. Being raised in an environment like that is hard to not believe that it is okay to envy others, because you were raised thinking it was okay. A lot of the time someone who is feeling envious blames God for feeling inferior or for someone else being better than you or being better at something.

According to Rachel DeYoung envy arises from pride. Humans are naturally prideful and none of us like feeling inferior to others, instead we all want to feel superior whether we want to admit it or not. In Rachel DeYoung’s book Glittering Vices she talks about how the way to get rid of envy is to fight it with zeal. A person with zeal knows that God loves them, and they look at themselves with honesty and the desire to be better. On page 57 of DeYoung’s book she says “With it, we can freely imitate others who are our betters, appreciating but also striving to better ourselves.’ In this quote she is talking about zeal. You have to have some amount of zeal to be able to compliment people instead of envying them because you think that they are better than you. Complimenting people on things doesn’t always mean that you feel like they are better than you are. We can all work on having more zeal because way to many people forget about it and that’s when envy will come and take over. There are a lot of things that come out of envying someone, in class we learned about envy’s daughter vices. The daughter vices are: gossip, detraction/slander, hatred, schadenfreude, and sorrow over the others continuing goods. We all struggle/ have struggled with one of these daughter vices sometime in our life. It is hard to not get caught up in gossip that people are spreading because we all enjoy hearing gossip about someone else’s life.

Growing up I was put in the foster care at the age of 3 and I wasn’t adopted until the age of 13. I transferred from to home for 10 years and I was bullied. I struggled a lot with envy growing up. Everyone always had what I didn’t and the big thing for me was that they had a forever home and I didn’t. I was bullied going to school because I didn’t have a real family and everyone thought there was something wrong with me because no one wanted me. I struggled with keeping friends as a kid because envy ruins friendships. I was jealous/envious of all the friends I had because they always had the best toys, and the best parents that got them whatever they wanted and my foster parents never did that. The homes I was put in didn’t care about me and they gave me all the leftover stuff that they didn’t want or that their kids got tired of. Since I had so much envy in me I felt like the only way to fix my problem was to ruin what they had because if I couldn’t have it neither could they. To be fair they ruin the things I had first and treated me like trash so I grew to hate them and I didn’t care what happened to their things. Especially at the age I was envy was a very consuming part of my life until I found a family that actually wanted me even though I was full of a bunch of different problems and feelings.

Envy also caused me to be wrathful as a kid because when I didn’t get what I wanted I would act out and sometimes in a violent form. The older I got the less I struggled with envy, but it was still there. The older I got the more I understood the feeling of envy and what it was capable of. I found out that gossip can ruin people’s lives, I went through a phase were I wanted to ruin the person I was envious of life. I heard rumors about this person and I spread them in hopes that people would also end up hating them, but then I grew up and figured out that ruining peoples lives was not making me feel better and neither was envy. I grew out of it and felt guilty for the things that I said and did. To this day I still struggle with not hating the people that have wronged me in my life, and I guess you could say in some form its because of my past.

Envy is a life ruining sin. It’s easy to say out loud that we are not envious, but most people are and hate to admit it. Envy destroys happiness. Those who have good self-esteem, have respect for themselves, integrity for themselves, and are happy for others success are not consumed with envy. Yes sometimes they can feel envious about wanting something that someone else has but they don’t let it affect their happiness. We are typically envious of those who are most like ourselves, but the key is to be happy with your own success and how your life is going and not let those who are doing better than you consume you with envy.

Social media creates a virtual community for people to follow the lives of each other. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are available for all to become users themselves. Individuals can document every moment of the lives on social media through their profiles. For instance, Ellison et al (2007) and Hong et al (2012) both documents how self-presentation and self-disclosure are important factors in motivating social media use. Furthermore, social media aids in connecting one to their environment whether online or offline through the access of communication. This communication enables individuals to stay connected with family and friends. However, privacy can become a concern due to people sharing too much personal information on their social media. This excessive information can result in others creating an ideal image of themselves that they deem socially desirable (Mehdizadeh 2010). Consequently, individual’s begin making social comparisons based on this ideal image (Chou & Edge, 2012).

Moreover, daily life is full of social comparison as individuals have a natural habit of comparing their own accomplishments to others (Giesler, Gilbert and Morris, 1995). Festinger’s social comparison theory explains how people compare themselves to those with similar characteristics as them (Festinger, 1954). Due to comparing, reflecting and evaluating their own skills and abilities to others, it can be argued that this not only results in social comparisons but also the risk of developing envy. In turn, this envy can lead to negative psychological reactions (Johnson and Knobloch-Westerwick, 2014). This analysis is supported by the work of various researchers who have discovered that those experiencing envy on a regular basis are at higher risk of becoming frustrated (Maurya, 2012), suffering mentally (Piskorski, 2011), having a significant decrease on life satisfaction (Smith and Kim, 2007) as well as developing depressive symptoms (Etchegoyen and Nemas, 2003; Malone et al, 2006).

Furthermore, Smith and Kim describe the term ‘envy’ as “an unpleasant and often painful blend of feelings caused by a comparison with a person or group of persons who possess something we desire” (2007: 49). Envy can have various effects on an individual, including obtaining different levels of self-consciousness and those distrustful of their self-esteem are more prone to experience envy in social comparison. These effects are supported by studies conducted by Buunk and Gibbons. For instance, social self-consciousness is an intense predictor of an individual’s tendency to conduct social comparison (2007). According to the self-consciousness level of the individual, one could be more or less involved in social comparison and the experience of envy. Moreover, there is a negative correlation between one’s self-image and the inclination to pursue social comparison combined with envy (1999). Overall, we can conclude that through social comparisons, one may experience differing levels of envy.

Arguably, there is a gap in the literature as the given studies investigate the influence of envy on emotion, rather than, how social medias influences envy through social comparison. For example, the recent study conducted by Lim and Yang (2015) clearly associated the act of comparing oneself through social media to the emotion of envy. However, their study questionnaire items (e.g., “I felt unhappy/poor/depressed/miserable when comparing myself with others on a social networking service”; p. 309) measure social comparison more as a mean to negative emotions or low self-esteem rather than envy. Moreover, according to Smith and Kim (2007) aggressive behaviour, such as, conflicts, crime and malevolent feelings are positively connected to envy. Therefore, to achieve the goal of linking social comparison to envy, the study will follow the questions of whether friends’ displayed life on social media can be the influence of envy in people with healthy levels of self-esteem.

As stated before, by addressing these limitations, the hypothesis of those with healthy self-image and self-consciousness who regularly use social networks can result in the social comparison of themselves to their friends, and in turn, resulting in their life satisfaction decreasing. Accordingly, S. Y. Lee (2014) postulated that permanent use of social media such as ‘Facebook’ induces the probability to engage in social comparison. For this reason, Tandoc et al (2015) and Festinger (1954) discovered that people interested in following their friends’ online activity as well as spending more hours using social media tend to feel envy as a result of the social comparison. To conclude, it may be assumed that the number of hours per day spent on social media has a huge influence on envy through the comparison in virtual communications.

Therefore, the question of the current research would focus on whether the use of the social network, in particularly, Facebook can lead to an increase of envy in friends on social media who usually have healthy levels of self-esteem. The goal of the given study extends the knowledge about how the use of social media can induce the feeling of envy. Also, at the same time, it would give more insight about how the increased use of social media impact on one’s psychological well-being. Due to the fact that envy might result in negative psychological reactions, including depressive symptoms (Etchegoyen, Nemas, 2003; Malone et al., 2006), it could be of importance to know more about the struggles of social media use, so we could be more aware of the risks. This way, new interventions which can focus on the reduction of social media use can be established since the younger generations uses social media excessively (Smith & Anderson, 2018). Therefore, with interventions, we can prevent unwanted issues faced by young people.

To conclude this essay, I will discuss a method to investigate the question of the influence of social comparison on envy in people with high self-esteem. Firstly, a random population of participants would first be administered a test assessing their level of self-esteem. The participants who score high on their level of self-esteem would then be separated randomly into one of two conditions. The first condition will involve the participants being absent from Facebook for two weeks, whereas, the second condition would have the participants spend three or more hours per day on Facebook. This would be monitored through an app that the participants would need to download in order for their progress to be tracked. Afterwards, all the participants would have to complete a follow-up questionnaire measuring their amount of envy. Then the difference in the results of both conditions would be assessed, drawing conclusions from their initial level of self-esteem to the most current measurement. The prediction of the study is that the participants that were involved in the high use of social media would score significantly higher on their amount of envy they experienced than the participants in the low use of social media condition. Overall, these findings can lead us to better understandings of envy development within social media and can be applied to real life situations.

How do people perceive the word envy? From a common viewpoint, envy breaks down the bonds between people, not only by propelling the need of wanting what someone else has, but also the desire that nobody else has it. Based on this information, most people perceive envy as a dysfunctional emotion that should be averted. Envy in social media is also commonly regarded as destructive to the common welfare of society. Although studies have supported this viewpoint, others have argued that envy can be also functional. Therefore, in order to better understand the importance of envy, it is essential to consider the various studies available on this subject and how my perspective has changed due to this research.

Envy can be defined as the painful or bitter awareness of a benefit enjoyed by another individual and the desire to have the same advantage (Merriam-Webster, 2019). According to Parrott, at the core of envy is social comparison, a familiar yet dominant influence on a person’s mental image of himself/herself (2001, p. 308). Most people’s self-esteem originates from comparison to others (Parrott, 2001, p. 308). When a person’s skills, accomplishments, or goods compare inferior to those of another person, one’s self-esteem can be affected (Parrott, 2001, p. 308). Nevertheless, there are other ways social comparison can lead to envy. As per Crusius and Mussweiler, spontaneous social comparisons with better-off others can trigger envious displeasure and a tendency to strive for their superior good under conditions of stretched capacity to exert self-control (2012, p. 148). These triggers and factors of envy serve as the avenue to explore the dysfunctional and functional aspects of envy in different settings including, social media.

Zeigler-Hill and Southard’s “Self-esteem and envy: Is state self-esteem instability associated with the benign and malicious forms of envy” study focused on whether the instability of trait and state self-esteem levels were connected to benign envy (i.e., the desire to improve one’s own position) and malicious envy (i.e., the desire to hurt a person with one or more superior aspects) (Vrabel, Zeigler-Hill, & Southard, 2018, p. 100). The participants of this study were undergraduates in the American Midwest and were registered in psychology courses (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 101). Ultimately having a reasonable number of participants (i.e., 182), the researchers were able to concentrate on measuring the trait self-esteem level, state self-esteem instability, narcissistic admiration and rivalry, and benign and malicious envy (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102).

For the trait self-esteem level, the researchers used the reliable Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a 10-item measure of trait self-esteem (as defined by Rosenberg), and instructed the participants to complete this assessment according to how they usually feel or to how they see themselves as a whole (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102). State self-esteem instability was evaluated using a modified version of the basic strategy developed by Kernis and his colleagues (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102). Concerning testing for the level of narcissistic admiration and rivalry, the researchers used the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, an 18-item measure (as defined by Beck and her fellow colleagues) (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102). Researchers measured the levels of benign and malicious envy using The Benign and Malicious Envy Scale, a 10-item measure that provides an assessment of benign envy and malicious envy (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102).

The results for benign envy demonstrated a positive correlation for narcissistic admiration (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102). After controlling for narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry, it was found that trait self-esteem level was negatively correlated with benign envy, and state self-esteem instability was positively correlated with benign envy (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102). The results for malicious envy illustrate a negative correlation for narcissistic admiration and a positive correlation for narcissistic rivalry (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102). After regulating for narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry, it was revealed that the trait self-esteem level was negatively correlated with malicious envy (Vrabel et al., 2018, p. 102).

Jan Crusius and Thomas Mussweiler’s “When People Want What Others Have: The Impulsive Side of Envious Desire” study provides a different perspective of what triggers envy. This study concentrated on whether unconstrained social comparison with another individual having a better good triggers an envious emotional reaction that comprises an strengthened, impulsive disposition to obtain this good (2012, p. 144). Crusius and Mussweiler performed four experiments to answer this question. In Experiment 1, they observed whether drinking an excessive amount of alcohol in a small time frame impacts the appearance of “envious discontent” (2012, p. 144). They used adult participants in the Cologne street carnival (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 144). These participants were separated (and assigned) to either the better-off neighbor or a no-neighbor conditions (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 144). For selecting which foods were desirable or not, the researchers asked an independent sample how much they would like to eat a particular food (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 144-145). Based on their results, the researchers selected Nestle’s Choco Crossies (a chocolate confection) as the more desirable food and “chewy candy” as the less desirable; subsequently, the participants were invited in pairs or alone (i.e., better-off and no-neighbor) to taste one of these different candies (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145).

According to Crusius and Mussweiler, during the better-off neighbor condition, denied-of-better-sweet participants were in the immediate presence of a confederate (someone who acts exactly as the researcher instructs), who received the “better” sweet (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145). In the no-neighbor condition, participants were also assigned to taste the chewy candy, but were alone (i.e., no confederate) (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145). The intensity of the participants’ emotional responses was assessed by having them rate their happiness level when they received the chewy candy, their anger level when they did not receive the chocolate box, and their envy level of the participants who received the chocolate box (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145).

Experiment 2 explored whether an envy provoking situation increases the disposition to attain the superior good (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145). The researchers invited pairs of participants, who were strangers to each other, to perform taste judgments in the laboratory (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 146). There were four different conditions: high load, low load, better-off neighbor, worse-off neighbor, and equal-neighbor (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145).

In the high load condition, participants had to recall a long number (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145). On the other hand, in the low load condition, the number was small (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145). In the better-off neighbor condition, participants were designated to taste the inferior food (butter biscuits), while their neighbor (in the worse-off-neighbor condition) was assigned to taste the desirable, superior food (ice-cream sundae) (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145). Participants and their partners in the equal-neighbor condition were assigned to assess both foods (butter biscuits and ice-cream sundaes) in a different order (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145-146). Participants rated how deeply they envied their partner and specified their inclination to pay for the two foods before tasting them (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145).

In Experiment 3, all participants underwent “high cognitive load” to be under conditions in which envious reactions could possibly become apparent (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 147). Similar to Experiment 2, the adult participants in this experiment were recruited at a college campus in Cologne (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 147). The better-off neighbor condition and the no-neighbor condition each had almost half of the participants (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 148). This procedure combined features of Experiment 2 and some experimental conditions as Experiment 1; however, a different pair of foods was introduced, which included sauerkraut juice (Alnatura Sauerkrautsaft) and a fruit smoothie (True Fruits Smoothie) (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 148). These foods were judged to be either desirable (or undesirable) (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 148).

The results for Experiment 1 indicated that for the better-off neighbor condition, the blood alcohol concentration level was correlated with the intensity of the negative emotional response, whereas in the no-neighbor condition, the blood alcohol concentration was not associated to the emotional response (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145). The results concerning envy within the high load condition indicated that, participants with a better-off neighbor conveyed more envy than participants with the other types of neighbors (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 146). In contrast, under low load, participants’ envy with a better-off neighbor did not differ from the other neighbor conditions (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 146). Furthermore, “high load conditioned participants with a better-off neighbor also reported more envy than low load participants with a better-off neighbor” (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 145).

The results for Experiment 3 showed that participants who had a better-off neighbor were more prone to impulsively purchase the better product, unlike those without a better-off neighbor (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 148). Due to the fact that an almost identical procedure elicited envy in Experiments 1 and 2, it is possible to interpret the findings in Experiment 3 as related to envy (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 148). The results for Experiment 4 demonstrated that in comparison to “their approach tendency toward the neutral stimuli and the inferior food, participants in the high load condition had a stronger approach tendency toward the superior food when sitting next to a better-off neighbor, but not when they were alone” (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 148-149). As for low load, with regards to their reaction toward the dislikable food and neutral stimuli, participants were less inclined to approach the better food under the presence of a better-off neighbor (Crusius and Mussweiler, 2012, p. 149).

Besides addressing the triggers and factors that may lead to envy, it is also essential to discuss the dysfunctional and functional aspects of envy. One article, “Why Following Friends Can Hurt You: An Exploratory Investigation of the Effects of Envy on Social Networking Sites among College-Age Users,” discusses how envy can be dysfunctional in a social media setting. According to the article, two studies were conducted, with the first study focusing on qualitative data and the second study centered on quantitative data (Krasnova, Widjaja, Buxmann, Wenninger, and Benbasat, 2015, p. 593). On the one hand, Study 1 was used to illustrate whether there are differences between envy on social networking sites (i.e., SNS) and envy on the everyday physical setting (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 593). On the other hand, Study 2 provides a detailed investigation of envy’s role in SNS and consumers’ behavior (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 593). Both studies’ data were gathered using a “convenience sampling procedure” (online surveys advertised for a German university) aiming for young adults (i.e., college age individuals) SNS users (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 593). Study 1’s survey showed two question blocks (i.e., QB1 and QB2), which contained a combination of open and closed-ended inquiries (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 594). While the purpose of QB1 was to produce the scale of envy, QB2’s purpose was to improve the understanding of SNS-influenced envy rather than everyday physical setting (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 594).

Study 2’s survey depended on a commonly used “operationalization of situational envy by Vecchio (1995)” (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 596). By knowing the intentions of envy on SNSs, the researchers were able to adapt this scale to the SNS context (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 596). Envy emerged as important in question 1 of Study 1, with more than half of respondents revealing envy as a response to the social info of other individuals (can be perceived as admitting to envy) (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 594). Moreover, with Study 1-Question 2, about one out of four of the respondents specified that they themselves experienced envy, which they think is a major negative emotional reaction (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 594). Furthermore, in Study 2, it was shown that “the direct effects of social information consumption on an SNS are not significant for cognitive well-being and affective well-being” (Krasnova et al., 2015, p. 598).

A counterargument to Krasnova’s article is found in “The Positive Side of Social Comparison on Social Network Sites: How Envy Can Drive Inspiration on Instagram” article. This article included social comparison, malicious and benign envy, inspiration, positive and negative effect, trait narcissism and trait self-esteem, were measured on fivepoint Likert scales, from 1 meaning “strongly disagree” and 5 meaning “totally agree” (Meier & Schafer, 2018, p. 413). Participants reported significant levels of inspiration on Instagram and higher levels of benign than malicious envy (Meier & Schafer, 2018, p. 413). Moreover, inspiration showed no relationship with most of the other investigated items (Meier & Schafer, 2018, p. 413).

After researching these articles, my perspective on envy has changed quite a bit. For instance, after reading about the chapter of guilt in “Emotions in Social Psychology,” I expected that self-esteem was one of the triggers of envy. Nevertheless, I found how impulsiveness can also be a factor that may lead to envy. Furthermore, I also found that the dysfunctional and functional components of envy in social media platforms directly contrast one another. Personally, I find envy to be both dysfunctional and functional depending on the circumstances.

Overall, in order to better comprehend the meaning of envy, it is crucial to consider the various journal articles on this subject and how my perspective has changed due to this research. The topic of this research was beneficial to broaden the role of envy in human behavior. From understanding the triggers and factors that can lead to envy, to the dysfunctional and functional roles of envy in social media, these are all important to study and perform further research on.