Uncontrollable temptation? - The Sixth Of the Seven Deadly Sins: Jealousy

Jealousy is strange.

The other sins have even a brief pleasure in any case, while jealousy is completely absent! Isn't it strange that such emotions are also inherited and not evolved?

Where jealousy falls between triggering and stabbing depends a lot on who we compare to and how far they are between them and us.

People judge others mainly in two dimensions: ability and enthusiasm.

People who are capable and enthusiastic are often respected; people who are not competent but enthusiastic are often sympathized with; jealousy is mainly directed at people who are capable and not enthusiastic.

But jealousy often doesn't trigger when others are far ahead of us. Those around us who are almost the same as us and have an advantage are the most likely to become objects of jealousy. That is, jealousy must touch a direct comparison between a particular person and us, and when the external world lacks someone we can directly compare, it does not trigger jealousy.

This is the key difference between jealousy and several other sins: it is driven by external factors rather than purely internal ones, and it requires competitors to have something that we don't have to trigger. Specifically, there are four prerequisites for triggering jealousy: 1. People we compare are more or less comparable in social status. 2. When we compare ourselves with others, we must be directly related to our own situation. 3) What is jealous must be difficult to achieve. 4) It must be recognized that this advantage is not deserved.

So, jealousy is "grieving for the good of others." The only pleasure it brings is venting when it hurts the jealous.

In people with strong jealousy, there is a significant difference between a region of dipfc in the brain and the average person, and the more times the number of jealousies per day, the smaller the area that can be observed in this area. Studies have also shown that the higher the emotional intelligence of the person, the larger the area.

So why does our brain retain and evolve jealousy?

The prerequisite for jealousy is self-awareness. People first have self-awareness, and then realize that others also have self-awareness, when we are inferior to others, it will prompt us to want to catch up with others, that is, to use the superiority of others as our own driving force, to improve their own behavior, and strive to enjoy the benefits brought by our group members like others, which should be the source of jealousy.

Jealousy corresponds to regulating social relations, which is sometimes beneficial. The jealousy of others will prompt us to regulate our own behavior, balance the instincts of selfishness and greed, and take care of the feelings of others when maximizing our own interests, so as to avoid hurting the social circle, seeking fairness, and avoiding jealousy. What we oppose is extreme jealousy, the schadenfreude of seeing others unhappy, and even hurting others because of jealousy.