People who experience schadenfreude, the emotion of feeling pleasure at another person's misfortune, when they hear a controversial celebrity is sick are less willing to take preventative health measures themselves.
Researchers say dehumanization seems to be at the core of schadenfreude, the sense of pleasure at other peoples' misfortune.
Schadenfreude, or taking pleasure from the misfortune of others, can be contagious and leads to a vicious cycle of mistreatment of a victim, especially in a competitive workplace.
Individuals with dark triad personality traits, including narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, combined with feeling schadenfreude, taking pleasure from the misfortune of others, are more likely to indulge in internet trolling.
Researchers report they have identified individual neurons in the brain that support observational learning.
