Preventing Bullying by Elementary and Junior High School students through Understanding Emotion-Evoking Mechanisms Associated with Schadenfreude and Envy

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The purpose of this study was to gain insights to prevent and to possible intervene in school bullying, through understanding emotion-evoking mechanisms. The study focused on envy, which is a negative emotion aroused by another's good fortune, and on schadenfreude, which is a positive emotion aroused in response to another's misfortune. Participants in this study were elementary and junior high school students for the most part. A questionnaire survey was conducted on several occasions in order to clarify the relationships between emotions and attitudes that individuals have toward bullying. Results suggest that students who are more likely to feel schadenfreude in situations not related to bullying are more likely to accept bullying. In addition, the envy felt by junior high school students that have engaged in bullying a number of times in the past one year is more likely to enhance attitudes for rejecting bullying, compared to those students that have engaged in less bullying in the past one year.