Does envy influences the way we vote?
Envy plays a greater role when resources are allocated through majority voting than when we make decisions individually. This is shown by new research from Linköping University, Sweden. According to the researchers, the explanation may be that our sense of personal responsibility diminishes when an individual vote is unlikely to determine the outcome.
New research from Linköping University in Sweden shows that envy plays a greater role in collective decision-making through majority voting compared to individual choices. This is because people's sense of personal responsibility decreases when their individual vote is unlikely to determine the outcome. In experiments with 574 Swedish students and 1,176 English-speaking participants, those who voted collectively were more likely to choose equal splits of resources, even though it meant reducing the amount another person received.
This envy-driven behavior was not observed in individual decision-making scenarios. The researchers suggest that shared responsibility in collective decisions makes it easier for destructive emotions like envy to influence people's choices.
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