The psychology of schadenfreude: an opponent's suffering triggers a spontaneous smile

The psychology of schadenfreude: an opponent's suffering triggers a spontaneous smile

People naturally experience a quiet sense of joy when witnessing a disliked rival suffer a sudden misfortune. A recent psychological experiment confirms that individuals spontaneously smile when watching an aggressive opponent experience physical pain, provided the observer feels personally provoked. These physical facial reactions, documented in a study published in Cognition and Emotion, reveal that perceiving someone as a wrongdoer acts as a …