The Impact of Expressions of Pride on Observers’ Emotions and Behavior: The Mediating Role of Envy in a Chinese Adolescent Sample

Focusing on a Chinese adolescent sample, this study investigated how winners’ expressions of authentic versus hubristic pride in competitive contexts were associated with observers’ emotional and behavioral responses to the winners’ misfortunes and examined the mediating role of benign and malicious envy. A total of 428 subjects participated in three progressive experiments (scenario-based vignettes, live games, and remote competition tasks). The results showed that: (1) Winners displaying authentic pride elicited more sympathy and less schadenfreude than winners displaying hubristic pride; (2) Malicious envy was associated with the link between hubristic pride and schadenfreude, whereas benign envy was associated with the link between authentic pride and sympathy; and (3) Winners displaying authentic pride received more practical help after experiencing misfortune. These findings clarify the social functions of the two-facet structure of pride and the envy-related mechanisms underlying observers’ responses, and they suggest potential directions for adolescent moral education and prosocial-behavior interventions.