REI Colloquium: How Group Competition, Apathy, & Antipathy Influence Intergroup Harm

Empathy is often hailed as the emotion to target in intergroup conflicts, as it predicts consequential prosocial behaviors. I argue, however, that while empathy is relevant for prosocial and helpful behaviors, it cannot adequately explain why people harm members of other groups. In my work I have developed a model that proposes incorporating another, understudied emotion—schadenfreude—to understand people’s nasty, harmful behaviors. I will present evidence that group competition is an important motivator for feeling empathy and schadenfreude (or not) towards outgroups and low-status groups. Further, these emotions are related to helpful and harmful policy support.