Ripples of contempt: aversive responses to others (mis)fortunes

In this short commentary we argue that feelings of contempt play a major role in schadenfreude (joy in the misfortunes of others) and “reverse schadenfreude”—gluckschmerz (sadness at the fortunes of others). We used qualitative mixed-mode comparative analysis of the major characteristics/features of negative sentiments, to explore a possible link between contempt and schadenfreude and gluckschmerz. Findings, especially from the political partisan polarization literature have shown that the investigated sentiments share many of their important characteristics, suggesting a possible relationship in the form of higher level of contempt possibly triggering a higher level of schadenfreude and gluckschmerz.