The Joy of Pain (33 page)

2
. Snyder, D. J. (1997),
The cliff walk
, New York: Little, Brown.

3
. See
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/
, retrieved May 14, 2010.

4
. Brickman, P., & Bulman, R. (1977), Pleasure and pain in social comparison, in J. M. Suls & R. L. Miller (Eds.),
Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives
(pp. 149–186), Washington, DC: Hemisphere; de Botton, A. (2004),
Status anxiety
, New York: Pantheon; Festinger, L. (1954), A theory of social comparison processes,
Human Relations
,
7
, 117–140; Fiske, S. T. (2011),
Envy up, scorn down: How status divides us
, New York: Russell Sage Foundation; Frank, R. H. (1999),
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, New York: Free Press; Marmot, M. (2004),
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, New York: Times Books; Mussweiler, T. (2003), Comparison processes in social judgment: Mechanisms and consequences,
Psychological Review
,
110
, 472–489; Smith, R. H. (2000), Assimilative and contrastive emotional reactions to upward and downward social comparisons, in L. Wheeler & J. Suls (Eds.),
Handbook of social comparison: Theory and research
(pp. 173–200), New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers; Stapel, D., & Blanton, H. (Eds.) (2006),
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Brighton, NY: Psychology Press; Tesser, A. (1991), Emotion in social comparison and reflection processes, in J. M. Suls & T. A. Wills (Eds.),
Social comparison: Contemporary theory
and research
(pp. 115–145), Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; Suls, J. M., & Wheeler, L. (Eds.) (2000),
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New York: Plenum Press.

5
. See
http://www.frasieronline.co.uk/episodeguide/season5/ep17.htm
; and
http://www.kacl780.net/frasier/transcripts/season_5/episode_17/the_perfect_guy.html
, retrieved April 8, 2013.

6
. Quoted in Baumol, W. J., & Blinder, A. S. (2010),
Economics: Principles and policy
, Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

7
. Summers, A., & Swan, R. (2006),
Sinatra: The life
, New York: Vintage Books, p. 81.

8
. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QvSoRQrVJg
, retrieved June 15, 2010.

9
. Rousseau, J. (1984),
A discourse on inequality
, New York: Viking Penguin (orginally published in 1754; trans. Maurice Cranston).

10
. Ibid., p. 114.

11
. Much of this analysis was taken from Smith (2000).

12
. Festinger (1954).

13
. Fiske (2011).

14
. Morse, S., & Gergen, K. J. (1970), Social comparison, self-consistency, and the concept of the self,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
,
16
, 148–156.

15
. Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. (2008),
Social psychology and human nature
(1st ed.), Belmont, CA: Wadsworth; Kernis, M. H. (Ed.) (2006),
Self-esteem issues and answers: A sourcebook of current perspectives
, New York: Psychology Press; Tesser, A. (1988), Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior, in L. Berkowitz (Ed.),
Advances in experimental social psychology
, vol. 21 (pp. 181–227), New York: Academic Press.

16
. van Dijk, W., van Koningsbruggen, G. M., Ouwerkerk, J. W., & Wesseling, Y. M. (2011), Self-esteem, self-affirmation, and
schadenfreude, Emotion, 11,
1445–1449.

17
. van Dijk, W., Ouwerkerk, J. W., Wesseling, Y. M., & Koningsbruggen, G. M. (2011), Toward understanding pleasure at the misfortunes of others: The impact of self-evaluation threat on
schadenfreude
,
Cognition and Emotion
,
25
, 360–368.

18
. See
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/François_de_La_Rochefoucauld
, retrieved May 3, 2012.

19
. Buss, D. (2012),
Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind
(4th ed.), New York: Allyn & Bacon. Also see a similar analysis in Smith (2000) and in Smith, R. H., & Kim, S. H. (2007), Comprehending envy,
Psychological Bulletin
,
33
(1), 46–64.

20
. Evolutionary perspectives also highlight that altruistic tendencies, especially toward kin, should be adaptive. It's not that the individual survives, but that his or her offspring survives. Offspring carry the individual's genetic material, and so tendencies that enhance the survival of kin should provide an evolutionary advantage.

21
. Described in Fletcher, G. J. O. (2002),
The new science of intimate relationships
, Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.

22
. Frank (1999), pp. 135–136.

23
. See Smith (2000) and Smith & Kim (2007).

24
. de Botton (2004); Fiske (2011); Marmot (2004).

25
. Buss (2012).

26
. Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2003), Monkeys reject unequal pay,
Nature
,
425,
297–299.

27
. See
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21773403/ns/technology_and_science-science/
, retrieved November 28, 2009.

28
. Boswell, J. (1904),
Life of Johnson
, Oxford: Oxford University Press (originally published in 1781).

29
. Range, F., Horn, L., Viranyi, Z., & Hube, L. (2008), The absence of reward induces inequity aversion in dogs,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0810957105, retrieved April 10, 2010.

30
. Lindhom, C. (2008), Culture and envy, in R. H. Smith (Ed.),
Envy: Theory and research
(pp. 227–244), New York: Oxford University Press.

31
. Alicke, M. D., & Govorun, O. (2005), The better-than-average effect, in M. D. Alicke, D. A. Dunning, & J. I. Krueger (Eds.),
The self in social judgment
(pp. 85–106), New York: Psychology Press. This effect is also referred to as the “Lake Wobegon effect” in reference to the imaginary community in Garrison Keiller's NPR show,
The Prairie Home Companion
, “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” See
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/
, retrieved May 5, 2012.

32
. See
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/quotes/george_carlin.html
, retrieved September 1, 2012.

33
. Dunning, D. (2005),
Self-insight: Roadblocks and detours on the path to knowing thyself
, New York: Psychology Press; Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. (1988), Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health,
Psychological Bulletin
,
103
, 193–210.

34
. Baumeister, R. F. (1989), The optimal margin of illusion,
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology
,
8
, 176–189.

35
. I take many of the examples here about Crane's novel from a more extensive treatment in Smith (2000).

36
. Crane, S. (1952/1895),
The red badge of courage,
New York: Signet, p. 21.

37
. Ibid., p. 47.

38
. Ibid., p. 92.

39
. Ibid., p. 68.

40
. Ibid.

41
. Although
The Red Badge of Courage
is fictional, it has the feel of an absorbing documentary. Crane was in his early twenties when he wrote it and had no experience in battle,
but he was able to imagine the feelings a soldier might have and why. Indeed, this may have been one of his main goals in writing the book. During the period when he wrote it, he spent many hours in the New York studio of a painter friend, Corwin Linson, who saw him sift through many accounts of Civil War battles. See Linson, C. K. (1958),
My Stephen Crane,
Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

42
. McCall, N. (1995),
Makes me wanna holler: A young black man in America,
New York: Vintage.

43
. Ibid., p. 12.

44
. Ibid., p. 13.

45
. Ibid., p. 14.

46
. Ibid., p. 17.

47
. Ibid., p. 215.

48
. Ibid., p. 263.

49
. Ibid., p. 300.

50
. Ibid., p. 351.

51
. Ibid.

 

1
. Jones, G. (1996),
I lived to tell it all
, New York: Bantam Doubleday, p. 5.

2
. Quoted in Sandage, S. A. (2005),
Born losers: A history of failure in America,
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 277–278.

3
. See
http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/A-businessman-on-a-plane-thinks-it-s-not-enough-that-I-fly-first-class-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8545335_.htm
Leo Cullum, retrieved March 30, 2013.

4
. See
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_carlin_2.html
# CjVhwQkdRa8G3eEB.99, retrieved April 22, 2012.

5
. See
http://proof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/drunkenfreude/
, retrieved December 5, 2009.

6
. Cheever also couched her “
drunkenfreude
” in the context of what she was able to learn from their behavior. She met many partygoers whose fine behavior left them unmemorable. It was the inebriated whose outrageous behavior was most instructive. She learned more about what
not to do
by watching those who embarrass themselves than she learned
to do
by watching the well-behaved and sober.

7
. See
http://proof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/drunkenfreude/
, retrieved December 5, 2009.

8
. For an interesting empirical analogue, see Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., & LaPrelle, J. (1985), Social comparison after success and failure: Biased search for information consistent with a self-serving conclusion,
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
,
21
,
195–211; Wills, T. A. (1981), Downward comparison principles in social psychology,
Psychological Bulletin, 90,
245–271.

9
. See
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
, retrieved March 21, 2011.

10
. See
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/celebrities/index.ssf/2007/08/beauty_queens_map_quest.html
, and
http://www.theage.com.au/news/people/beauty-queen-left-searching-for-answers/2007/08/29/1188067160206.html
, retrieved March 21, 2011.

11
. See
http://www.zimbio.com/Lauren+Caitlin+Upton/articles/IifvXCVcaBc/Caitlin+Upton+Miss+Teen+South+Carolina+Learns
, retrieved March 21, 2011.

12
. See
http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/12/2007s-most-watched-best-youtubeclips.html
, retrieved March 21, 2011.

13
. See
http://www.stupidityawards.com/Stupidest_Statement_of_the_Year.html
, retrieved March 21, 2011.

14
. See
http://www.urbanmoms.ca/juice/2007/12/top-ten-quotes-of-2007.html
, retrieved March 21, 2011;
http://poplicks.com/2007/12/best-quotes-of-2007.html
, retrieved March 21, 2011; and
http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2007/12/the-27-most-outrageous-quotes-of-2007/
, retrieved March 21, 2011.

15
.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/gallery/121907_top10quotes?pg=3
, and
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1959512020071219?loc=interstitialskip
retrieved March 21, 2011.

16
. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww
, retrieved March 21, 2011.

17
. See
http://www.cincihomeless.org/content/downloads/Bumfights.pdf
., retrieved December 5, 2009.

18
. See
http://vyuz.com/022706_Bumfights.htm
, retrieved December 5, 2009.

19
. Wills (1981).

20
. Wert, S. R., & Salovey, P. (2004), A social comparison account of gossip,
Review of General Psychology, 8
, 122–137.

21
. Wills (1981), p. 246.

22
. Ibid.

23
. Diener, E., Fraser, S. C., Beaman, A. L., & Kelem, R. T. (1976), Effects of deindividuation variables on stealing among Halloween trick-or-treaters,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33
, 178–183; Festinger, L., Pepitone, A., & Newcomb T. (1952), Some consequences of deindividuation in a group,
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 47
, 382–389; Postmes, T., & Spears, R. (1998), Deindividuation and anti-normative behavior: A meta-analysis,
Psychological Bulletin, 123
, 238–259; Zimbardo, P. G. (2007),
The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil
, New York: Random House.

24
. Wills (1981), p. 246.

25
. Hobbes, T. (1968),
Leviathan
, Harmondsworth: Penguin, p. 35 (originally published in 1651).

26
. Ibid.

27
. Wills (1981), p. 260.

28
. Ibid.

29
. See
http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/comedians/comedian_groucho_marx.htm
, retrieved May 17, 2012.

30
. See
http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/ins-fmen.html
, retrieved May 17, 2012.

31
. See
http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/jon-stewart-accept-it-gop-mittromneys-your-man-video-32710
, retrieved November 13, 2011; another safe target is the self: there is no way to insult the audience if the focus is on the joketeller himself.

32
. Gruner, C. R. (1997),
The game of humor: A comprehensive theory of why we laugh
, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, p. 8; see also Ferguson, M. A., & Ford, T. E. (2008), Disparagement humor: A theoretical and empirical review of psychoanalytic, superiority, and social identity theories,
Humor: Interrnational Journal of Humor Research, 21
, 283–312; La Fave, L., Haddad, J., Maesen, W. A. (1996/1976), Superiority, enhanced self-esteem, and perceived incongruity humor theory, in A. J. Chapman & H. C. Foot (Eds.),
Humor and laughter: Theory, research and applications
(pp. 63–91), New York: John Wiley & Sons; Zillman, D., & Cantor, J. R. (1976), A disposition theory of humor and mirth, in A. J. Chapman & H. C. Foot (Eds.),
Humor and laughter: Theory, research and applications
(pp. 93–116), London: Wiley.