Envy is an unpleasant emotion that results from a negative social comparison, such as when people become aware of someone possessing a superior good. A central component of envy seems to be the desire for this superior fortune. Despite its important implications, empirical evidence on the psychological underpinnings of envious desire is lacking. Assuming that people are motivated to control their spontaneous envious reactions, I predict that envy and envious desire are strongest when resources to exert self-control are taxed. To evoke envy, participants were invited to a taste test. Some of them completed this taste test in the presence of other persons who were asked to taste a more attractive food. In Experiment 1, participants, who were in the presence of a more fortunate person assigned to taste chocolate, were more dissatisfied, angrier, and more envious the more intoxicated they were. This did not happen when they were asked to taste their less attractive chewy candy alone. In Experiment 2, participants envied their experimental partner, who was assigned to taste an attractive ice cream instead of the inferior biscuit assigned to them, most intensely under high cognitive load. Furthermore, they reported a higher willingness to pay for the ice cream than participants in any other condition. In Experiment 3, participants in an envy evoking experimental condition were most likely to spontaneously purchase the better product under high cognitive load. In Experiment 4, automatic approach behavior towards the more attractive food of the neighboring participant was increased under high cognitive load. The findings shed light on the determinants and the consequences of envy on economic judgments and decisions
