Schadenfreude

painting
Return to the Convent, by Eduardo Zamacois y Zabala, 1868. The painting depicts a group of monks laughing while a lone monk struggles with a donkey.

Schadenfreude (/ˈʃɑːdənfrɔɪdə/; German: [ˈʃaːdn̩ˌfʁɔʏ̯də] ; lit.Tooltip literal translation "harm-joy") is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, suffering, or humiliation of another. It is a borrowed word from German; the English word for it is epicaricacy, which originated in the 18th century. Schadenfreude has been detected in children as young as 24 months and may be an important social emotion establishing "inequity aversion".[1]

  1. ^ Shamay-Tsoory SG, Ahronberg-Kirschenbaum D, Bauminger-Zviely N (2 July 2014). "There is no joy like malicious joy: schadenfreude in young children". PLOS ONE. 9 (7): e100233. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9j0233S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100233. PMC 4079297. PMID 24988446.