“They got what they deserved”: situational justification and schadenfreude toward an LGBTQIA+ organization

Abstract

Although schadenfreude, pleasure at another's misfortune, is recognized as a psychologically significant intergroup emotion, the conditions under which normative constraints regulate its expression, as opposed to its emergence following a target's own norm violation, remain comparatively underexamined. Drawing on the Justification-Suppression Model (JSM), which posits that prejudiced reactions are normally suppressed by internalized and social norms but can be released when a situational justification becomes available, the present study examined whether the availability of a situational justification for normatively constrained hostility moderates the expression of schadenfreude toward an LGBTQIA+ organization as a function of pre-existing anti-gender ideological beliefs. A between-subjects experimental design was employed with [N] Italian participants randomly assigned to a deservingness condition (in which a target LGBTQIA+ association was described as having engaged in financial misconduct) or an undeservingness condition (in which no wrongdoing was attributed to the association). Pre-existing animosity was operationalized using the Gender Ideology Belief Scale (GIBS), a multidimensional measure assessing conspiratorial beliefs, resistance to inclusive education, and adherence to traditional family values, while schadenfreude was assessed via an established multi-item measure. Moderated regression analyses revealed a significant interaction between GIBS scores and experimental condition: the association between anti-gender beliefs and schadenfreude was significantly stronger in the deservingness condition than in the undeservingness condition. These findings are consistent with an extension of the JSM to discrete affective intergroup responses. Because the two vignettes differ in the portrayal of the organization as well as in the availability of a justification, and because suppression was not measured directly, they should not be read as a demonstration of the moral-licensing mechanism the model proposes. Theoretical implications for the study of prejudice regulation, intergroup emotions, and anti-LGBTQIA+ hostility in the Italian context are discussed.