Motivational and Emotional Bases of Envy

Envy is a painful and unpleasant emotion that leading to a feeling of humiliation, violence, and acrimony of the features of any person who has others. Envy is one of the emotions that can be seen in most cultures.

Recognizing the importance of envy is because of violence that leads to aggressive behavior. Hostile nature of jealousy seen in many public crimes and also it can be seen in the conflicts within the group. Envy is also linked to destructive tendencies such as the desire to eliminate personal consequences to water down the positive points about Envy, and also is connected with the desire to destroy the good things that others have or feel that envious person or group to which they will be defeated, even if deserved sufferings and failures.

For the first time, Freud used to envy for girls, and he explained envy as his penis. But in fact, the penis was a symbol of patriarchal society for men and women so that envy is a physical organ. Freud explained envy in different groups. For example envy is seen in children, especially in siblings and, in older children to the new baby. After Freud, Melanie Klein, psychoanalysis, applied the envy in his theory. Melanie Klein explained her ideas of envy in her book “envy and gratitude.”  Melanie Klein's theory is on the relationship between mother and child and the mother's chest symbol. The central concept of mind Klein is her work on objects in and his understanding of life and death drives, super-ego and the Oedipus complex to understand envy and its location, how will occur and how psychoanalytic treatment works. She also believes envy is a destructive instinct and denial of life which is full of rage (Because of the large volume of discussion, a summary of the theory of Melanie Klein about envy is separately in the annex).

In this study, we describe the definition of envy, the expression of envy, causes of envy, primary motivational and emotional envy and its characteristics. Then we will discuss that people envy to what kind of people and then we will propose psychological consequences and effects of envy on behavior.