Smiling after witnessing provocateur’s suffering: a facial electromyography study

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

= 43) would exhibit similar facial reactions when observing a competitor's suffering from punishments administered by a computer rather than by themselves. Results showed that participants smiled (increased ZM and OO activity, decreased CS activity relative to baseline) when observing a provocative competitor in pain compared to when he was not in pain, indicating a pleasurable response. In contrast, they frowned (decreased ZM and OO activity, increased CS activity relative to baseline) when observing a non-provocative competitor in pain, indicating an empathetic concern. These findings suggest that the perception of harm-doing is a critical determinant of schadenfreude in vengeful social interactions.