"How pleasing it is when our own team wins. But when is a rival's failure even more satisfying? Recently, a friend and I were driving home from Columbus, Ohio, after attending an Ohio State football game. My friend switched on the radio and started searching for a station. As he is an uncompromising Ohio State fan (and Ohio State had won easily), I assumed he wanted to listen to the post-game reactions to the game and gourmandize on every detail."
"No, what I heard instead was a station devoted to Michigan football. What? It turned out that Michigan had lost its game earlier in the evening. As any football fan knows, the average Ohio State fan hates Michigan. Clearly, he wanted to wallow in their loss. That in itself was unsurprising. But, strangely, he seemed to prefer this to basking in his own team's victory. I asked him, "Let me get this straight, you want to listen to a Michigan show first?" "Of course!" he said, without hesitation or hint of shame."
People generally experience more pleasure from their own group's successes than from rivals' failures. Intense rivalry can reverse that pattern, causing greater satisfaction when a hated rival suffers. Recent poor performance by the ingroup increases the pleasure derived from a rival's misfortune. Perceptions of deservedness amplify the satisfaction felt at a rival's downfall. Sports rivalries provide clear examples, where fans sometimes prefer savoring a rival’s loss over celebrating their own team’s win. Strong dislike and moral judgments about cheating or deservingness intensify schadenfreude toward rival groups.
Read at Psychology Today
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