When They Go Low, We Gloat: How Trait and State Schadenfreude Moderate the Perception and Effect of Negative Political Messages

We investigate whether Schadenfreude - finding pleasure in others' misfortune - moderates the perception and effects of negative political messages ("negative campaigning"). We present the results of three experiments, two conducted in the United States with samples of 1,722 and 1,408 respondents surveyed via MTurk, and the other conducted in The Netherlands with a sample of 143 undergraduate students. In all studies respondents were exposed to a positive or negative message on a given issue and asked afterward to evaluate the message (message perception) and the target of the message (effect of the message). Studies 1 and 2 tested for the moderating effect of "trait" Schadenfreude - that is, to what extent respondents are likely to experience Schadenfreude in their everyday life, whereas Study 3 tested for the effects of "state" Schadenfreude via a stimulus intended to elicit it as a reaction. Results show that (1) Schadenfreude moderates the perception of the negative messages; people with low trait Schadenfreude react strongly (and negatively) to attacks; (2) state Schadenfreude does not have as strong an effect as trait Schadenfreude; (3) Schadenfreude only marginally moderates the direct effect of the negative message on the evaluation of the target politician.