Dispositional greed predicts benign and malicious envy

Abstract

Greed is an important precursor to envy. It is unclear, however, whether this link reflects only malicious envy, which involves hostile motivation toward superior others, or whether greed also predicts benign envy, which involves improvement motivation. If this is the case, the two forms of envy might connect greed to diverging psychological outcomes, such as differences in life satisfaction. The current research provides initial support for this possibility. In Study 1, participants (N = 296) responded to measures of dispositional greed and dispositional benign and malicious envy. Furthermore, after three weeks, participants were confronted with an upward comparison standard to assess state benign and malicious envy. As hypothesized, greed predicted more benign and more malicious envy. Furthermore, greed via malicious envy predicted lower life satisfaction, whereas via benign envy, it was connected to higher life satisfaction. Study 2 (N = 793) confirmed this pattern in a preregistered replication. These results underline the value of a more nuanced view on the relationship of greed and envy.