The effect of malicious envy on the framing effect: The mediating role of fear of failure

Abstract

Extensive research has confirmed that negative emotions play a key role in the framing effect. Yet little is known about whether and how malicious envy modulates the framing effect. To examine the potential impact and mechanism of malicious envy on the framing effect, two experiments were conducted in which participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a malicious envy condition and a control condition. In Experiment 1, after malicious envy was activated and measured, the participants were asked to complete a framing task. The results showed that participants in the malicious envy group made more risk-averse choices in the gain frame than those in the control group, but these two groups of participants did not exhibit a behavioral difference in the loss frame. In Experiment 2, the procedure was identical to Experiment 1, except that, after the malicious envy scale was administered, two scales were used to measure hope for success and fear of failure. Experiment 2 revealed the same effect of malicious envy on decision making in the framing task. Experiment 2 also found that malicious envy activated two types of achievement motivation. Further, fear of failure mediated the effect of malicious envy on risky decision making in the framing task, while hope for success did not mediate the effect. The relationships between malicious envy, framing effect, and achievement motivation have important implications with respect to interventions for malicious envy.