Smirk

A smirk signifies disdain, scorn, contempt, envy. When something unfortunate happens to someone who seems to have it all, the envious person feels a secret, malicious pleasure. He feels more than a tinge of elation seeing the misery of someone else.

At the office, there are politics and competition. An insecure employee has a sly smile when an associate gets passed over for a much-coveted promotion. He feels elated when someone else is reprimanded. The manager or officer may not be aware of the sabotage caused by malicious-minded subordinates. All of a sudden, the ambitious project collapses. An important presentation loses its sparkle and substance. The once-trusted assistant sticks a dagger and twists it.

The German word Schadenfreude is the appropriate term for this attitude.

Schaden means damage. Freude is joy. Human nature is such that a sense of envy is hard to erase.

There is no equivalent English word for it. The smirk is the facial expression.

German philosopher Schopenhauer once declared that it was an expression of envy and resentment.

Social psychologists have written that law-abiding citizens can feel justified when lawbreakers are punished. Some would even feel smug about it.

People who work hard may feel good when they see that rich, flashy spendthrifts or lazy heirs are brought down a peg or disgraced.

There is the feeling of justice. Then we see the smirk effect.

There have been icons who once seemed invulnerable, successful, perched on top of the world. These celebrities and popular figures became objects of derision when they committed misdemeanors, crimes or scandals.

When a successful businesswoman is sent to jail for insider trading or fraud, and a preening politician loses his reelection bid, there is hidden delight and public scorn for those failures.

In the context of social comparison, the smirk behavior is seen in people’s perception of where they rank (relative to others) and affects the way they behave and think.

The more enviable and attractive a person seems, the more likely others will smirk.

If one envies and dislikes a person, one feels inferior. One feels that his success is undeserved. When he stumbles, others are glad and they smirk.

Citizen Kane, an enduringly popular movie, feeds the audience’s desire to see the mighty fall.

As a sentiment, it is passive and relatively harmless. However, malice is active hatred. A theology professor Richard Smith cautioned that those who often experience it may do so at their own peril. If we frequently get pleasure form someone else’s misfortune, it takes a toll on “who we are as moral people.”

The private recognition of hypocrisy — such as the insincere show of sympathy with crocodile tears for the fallen — reveals morally challenged behavior.

Once upon a time, the domestic diva Martha Stewart was considered the queen who had everything that mattered: power, wealth, success and hauteur. When she was convicted, many people were glad that she had to serve time in prison. Her success was inspiring to many women but it was a double-edged sword. She continued to do her productive work while she was confined and emerged revitalized. To the dismay of her detractors.

Psychologists pointed out that children are more open at displaying the smirk. They show their real feelings — delight or dislike. As they grow up, they learn to hide it.

The condition is complicated. One person’s justice is another’s outrage. This contrast was seen on TV on 9/11 — when the horrible terrorist attacks demolished famous landmarks and innocent people. In the Middle East, there was dancing in the streets, celebrating the devastation in the USA.

Notions of good and bad may change over time. It applies to multi or single cultures.

The psychologists compiled a list of how one can prevent or minimize the smirk reaction.

A person with power and superiority would not hurt his image to do the following:

• Make a few inconsequential mistakes.

• Prevent hostility by being likable and modest.

• Show gratitude and humility.

• Express sympathy to those persons who are suffering around him. It is a way of building up a bank account of goodwill. When he suffers a misfortune, those persons would repay the investment that was made in them when they were down.

The psychologists revealed that it is rare for a diva to stay loved, immortalized on a pedestal. He cited the examples of James Dean, Princess Diana, and Marilyn Monroe. “It helps to die young.”

Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.

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