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The work presented in this dissertation primarily focused on two topics. The first was understanding differences in support for redistribution. In this section, we replicated existing research on the three-player two-situation model, extended this model with more precise measures - for instance of malicious envy - and developed new measures for instance of mutualism. The second main topic was understanding how motivations and cognitive ability influence people's economic attitudes and knowledge. The thesis is structured as follows. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction about redistribution and economic ideology which will be discussed in subsequent chapters and argues for the importance of replication existing findings in psychology. Chapter 2 aims to address whether social orientation and cognitive style reflect the differences in cultural orientation, such as individualism and collectivism. We conducted a study (n = 216) to test the relationships between Sociogram Task (a social orientation measure which assumes that using a relatively large circle to perform self in a diagram would be more individualistic), Triad Task (a cognitive style measure which assumes grouping objects through their category rather than relationship would be more individualistic), and three cultural orientation measures. We found that neither social orientation nor cognitive style was associated with cultural orientations, and social orientation nor cognitive style were not correlated with each other, either. This result showed that Sociogram Task and Triad Task did not reflect the underlying dimension of individualism and collectivism, indicating that social orientation and cognitive style were not linked with cultural orientations. Given that the effects of social orientation and cognitive style failed to replicate, we switched to our main findings in the next part. In part one of this dissertation (Chapter 3 to Chapter 5), we explored a different direction, focusing on the replication and extension of the three-player two-situation model, which hypothesizes that people's attitude toward resource allocation (e.g. support for economic redistribution) is driven by three motivations: compassion, envy, and self-interest. In Chapter 3, we build on the work of the three-player two-situation model, testing whether the attitude toward redistribution is motivated by the three motivations rather than procedural fairness. We successfully replicated this model in three studies (n = 1,011), confirming that support for redistribution is influenced by compassion, envy, and self-interest, and procedural fairness plays no role. Furthermore, we also refined the three-player two-situation model, indicating that the concept of envy referred to malicious envy, which is characterized by hostility and behaviours about decreasing others' advantage. These results support the role of evolution motivates in explaining contemporary economic redistribution. In Chapter 4, we aim to answer whether support for redistribution would be shaped by a specific kind of fairness vital in collaboration, the equal-division fairness. In two studies (n = 805), we found that motivation of equal-division played a significant role in support for redistribution. Furthermore, we found that attitude toward redistribution involved a coercive part, which was also associated with equal-division fairness. These results confirmed the role of equal-division motivation, suggesting that the three-player two-situation model includes equal-division fairness and coercive enforcement. In Chapter 5, we focused on another key concept of the evolution of cooperation, mutualism, trying to answer how it influences support for redistribution and associates with compassion, envy, self-interest, and equal-division fairness. We developed a Mutualism scale based on Baumard, André, and Sperber (2013), which reflects proportional division, proportional punishment, and helping behaviour. In two studies (n = 902), the Mutualism scale showed good fits to the predicted model and satisfactory reliability and validity. Furthermore, we found mutualism was independent of compassion, envy, and self-interest, but associated with equal-division, coercing others to share equally, and negative attitudes toward redistribution. These results extended the three-player two-situation model, confirming the importance of equal-division and mutualism motivations in explaining people's tendency toward economic redistribution. In the second part of this dissertation (Chapter 6 and Chapter 7), we turned to concern how cognitive ability influence people's economic attitudes and knowledge. In Chapter 6, we addressed whether cognitive ability influences economic attitudes. In two studies (n = 1,400) and a longitudinal data set (n = 11,563), we found cognitive ability was positively correlated with how far individuals deviate from prevailing centrist views, that is, the level of economic extremism. These results indicated that the association between cognitive ability and economic attitudes was not a simple linear relationship, highlighting the role of cognitive ability in generating radical attitudes. Chapter 7 aims to answer whether cognitive ability is related to economic knowledge and whether it will increase financial outcomes. In two studies (n = 1,356), we found that cognitive ability was positively associated with economic knowledge, and greater economic knowledge also positively correlated with financial literacy. In addition, our findings showed that education level and economic training level only had little effect on economic knowledge compared with cognitive ability. These findings fill the gap between cognitive ability and economic knowledge, extending the role of general ability in improving lifetime financial wellbeing. Finally, Chapter 8 was a summary of the previous chapters' findings, and suggestions for future research on people's economic attitudes and knowledge, especially the role of individual differences in this research area.

This thesis argues for the inclusion of negative emotions, and more specifically, of anger, resentment and envy in the discussion of eighteenth-century Sensibility. It stems from the fact that negative emotion is underemphasised in the context of Sensibility due to its connections to valorised victimhood, religious ideals of virtue and the argument for the reformation of manners. By contrast, this thesis reveals the role and relevance of these emotions to the study of Sensibility, finding evidence in three major kinds of discourses: the theoretical and philosophical discourse, the novel, and physiological theories of the time. Offering readings informed by recent insights from the study of the history of emotions it shows how these emotions are included in the discussions of Sensibility by virtue of necessity. The philosophical ideal of Sensibility, being defined in opposition to negative and egoistic passions, needs to include them, at the very least in order to discount them. In its turn, this creates strict criteria of expression that apply to these emotions which, nevertheless, find their place in the novel. In the early novels of Sensibility expressions of anger and resentment are included because they are connected to notions of moral injury, insult and injustice. These notions resonate deeply within a culture of specified codes of honour and virtue that simultaneously vests the domestic locus with utmost importance and defines female and sentimental virtue in strict terms. Envy is also included in the novel due to its connotations of social disruption and the disparity with social visions of Sensibility. In physiology, a comprehensive model that appeals to notions of balance and motion – and not solely focusing on the nerve – finds a desirable aspect in anger as invigorating. This idea is extended as metaphor to the novel as well. Following these considerations, the thesis finds that it is not the categorical exclusion but rare and firm instances of negative passions that sustain notions and the genre of Sensibility by offering extended versions of the sentimental. Furthermore, it notes that these instances of negative passions enhance the relatedness of these works to modern sensibilities.

This thesis is an anthropological exploration of the envy of Aguabuena people, a small rural community of potters in the village of Ráquira, in the Boyacá region of Andean Colombia. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork among these potters, I propose an understanding of envy in Aguabuena as an existential experience, shaping relationships between the self and others in the world, crosscutting metaphysical and physical spheres, and balancing between corrosive and more empathetic ways of co-existence. Disclosing the multipresence of envy in Aguabuena's world, its effects on people (including the ethnographer), and the way envy is embodied, performed, reciprocated and circumvented by the potters, I locate envy in various contexts where it is said to be manifested. Furthermore, I discuss the complex spectrum of envy and its multivalent meanings, or oscillations, in the life of Aguabuena people. I also present interactions with people surrounding potters, such as Augustinian monks, crafts middlemen, and municipal authorities, all of whom recount the envy of potters. My research challenges previous anthropological interpretations on envy and provides an alternative reading of this phenomenon. Moving away from labelling and regulatory explanations of envy, performative models, or pathological interpretations of the subject, I analyse the lived experience of envy and how it encompasses different realms of experience as well as flows of social relations. While focusing on the tensions and entanglements that envy brings to potters, as it constrains social life but also activates and reinforces social bonds, I examine the channels through which envy circulates and how it is put into motion by potters. Additionally, my thesis intends to contribute to anthropological studies of rural pottery communities in Andean Colombia. I present my unfolding understanding of envy by using both the potters' concept and material detail, punto, location, referring to a spot from where Aguabuena people enter different vistas of the world, or denoting a precise time when things or materials change their physical qualities. Through this device, I disclose realms of envy, while seeking to immerse the reader in the lived experience of envy.

Starting in the Ancient Near East to the Hellenistic era, envy has been a constant component of eastern Mediterranean cultures. The fear of the neighbor's envy materialized in the belief in the Evil Eye, in which the envy of the heart was able to strike people through eye emanations. Thus, envy took on a magical power and became a form of assault of one man upon another. Gods and men attack one another out of envy, both physically and spiritually. The Old Testament, we believe, takes a different stand. This thesis argues that envy is a major factor in fallen human nature according to the Scriptures. However, rather than following the thought of the region which gave envy magical powers which one must protect one's self from through superstitious practices, the writers of the Bible argue that envy is strictly a byproduct of faithlessness. Envy is an indication of idolatry, which ultimately results in murder. It is the ultimate irrationality, since envy strives to create an idol that cannot save. Envy interrupts the loyalty covenant between Yahweh and His people, since envy destroys relationships. The New Testament continued on this theme of envy, showing that the murderous impulse of envy will even strike out at God and attempt to kill Him. Christ's mission was to reveal this theocidal tendency and call men to repentance. Further, the Apostle Paul used the concept of the Evil Eye to expose the enviousness of his opponents, particularly since their own &sdquo;envy-sick eyes&sdquo; were unable to properly read Scripture as he could after the Damascus Road incident. This thesis concludes that envy is the primary impediment to salvation, since all envy is ultimately directed towards God and thus the envious man refuses the presence of the Omnipresent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to explore if perceived self-efficacy of negative and positive emotions could predict the dimension of envy felt (i.e., malicious or benign envy). Malicious envy is associated with negative emotions toward the target of comparison as well as negative behavioral outcomes, whereas benign envy is associated with positive emotions toward the target of comparison as well as positive behavioral outcomes. Additionally, this study examined how envy relates to organizational outcomes, focusing on job engagement and turnover intention. A total of 80 participants completed multiple measures gauging the variables of interest in this study. Results were mixed: Benign envy significantly and positively predicted both dimensions of emotional self-efficacy, but malicious envy did not significantly predict either dimension of emotional self-efficacy. Additionally, benign envy significantly and positive predicted job engagement, and malicious envy significantly and positively predicted turnover intention. Both effects were practically significant. Although these results did not confirm all hypothesized relationships, they demonstrate the complexity of envy as a construct. To our knowledge, this was the first study to simultaneously assess both dimensions of envy in relation to other variables, which contributes to the body of literature on envy. However, future research examining both dimensions of envy is recommended prior to drawing definitive conclusions.

My dissertation explores how two early modern women poets from France—Louise Labé and Catherine des Roches—position themselves as speaking subjects in a field historically dominated by men. I analyze how they adopt, adapt, and ultimately reject the traditional power dynamics that silence and exclude them. By constructing a relational subject position, these poets defy their own marginalization and write in service of a community of women. They inscribe the female body and voice into their texts, imbuing them with difference and creating a style of writing that resembles l’écriture féminine. My first chapter examines how Labé uses mimicry to assert her authorial voice and establish her own subjectivity, which differs from the narcissistic model of her male interlocutors because it is less focused on the poetic self. The absence of the je/moi (I/me) in Labé’s poetry is a choice that highlights the precarious position she occupies as a woman poet and creates a new model of female subjectivity. I dedicate two chapters of my dissertation to Catherine des Roches’ narrative poem “Agnodice,” one which deals with the figure of Envy and the other with Agnodice. I argue that Envy plays a crucial role in the poem. She both opens and closes the poem, and significant time is given to developing her character. While Envy functions as the main antagonist, her presence adds a level of ambiguity to the text. She complicates not only how we read the men in the story as villains, but also how we read Agnodice as a hero. Envy acts as a foil to Agnodice, purportedly the first female gynecologist in ancient Greece. While Envy destroys community, Agnodice rebuilds it. She works in service of the collective good and establishes a mode of engagement between women that leads to their health and happiness. Agnodice becomes a mouthpiece for Catherine, who creates a new model of literary production in which women take on a more active and inclusive role. Her goal, in my view, is to replace a poetic tradition predicated on singularity with a more collaborative enterprise.

The role of emotion in social media has been the subject of considerable research and media attention. But while stereotypes about the emotional profile of status updates — that they are overly-positive, or overly-angry — have solidified, evidence remains circumstantial and indirect. Further, although researchers have made numerous efforts to use the emotions we express in status updates to make inferences about our emotional lives — generating national happiness indices, predicting mental illnesses and evaluating emotional outcomes of experimental interventions — little is known about the validity of these inferences at the individual level, and researchers have largely ignored the impact of self-presentation and privacy concerns on validity. Finally, while debate continues about the emotional impacts of browsing social media in the course of day-to-day life, researchers have focused only on a limited set of emotions, rather than investigating the range of human emotion.To address these issues, I present three analyses regarding (1) the emotions we express in social media, (2) what can be inferred about our emotional lives in general based on how we express ourselves in social media, and (3) the emotional experience of browsing social media. I conduct experience sampling for one week with participants in a Facebook sample (N = 344) and Twitter sample (N = 352), gathering data about their day-to-day emotional lives. I then compare this data to participants’ ratings of the emotional contents of their most recent status updates so as to reveal the distinct emotional profile of status updates and address questions regarding the validity of inferences. Data from experience sampling is also used to reveal the emotional experience of browsing social media.In the first analysis, across a broad spectrum of emotions, I find status updates to be largely similar in emotional profile to emotional life in general, though Facebook posts are more positive on average, and tweets are more negative. Both Facebook posts and tweets exhibit higher levels of emotions associated with activation (energy, alertness) and lower levels of emotions associated with deactivation (drowsiness, sleepiness) than emotional life in general. In the second analysis, I find that the emotions we express in status updates have a low-moderate correlation with day-to-day emotional life, suggesting that efforts to infer emotional life from the emotions we express in status updates have some validity. The association is weaker, however, for individuals higher in attention to self-presentation and privacy in the Facebook sample, and disappears in both the Facebook and Twitter samples when a popular sentiment analysis program known as Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) is used to measure the emotional contents of status updates. Finally, in the third analysis, I find that the emotional experience of browsing social media is characterized primarily by deactivation (by winding down), with a slight tilt toward negative emotion. While browsing Facebook, on average, is associated with slightly elevated feelings of envy, browsing Twitter is associated with relief of envy. Further, results suggest little potency for theories of emotional contagion in social media. Overrepresented emotions in Facebook posts and tweets do not tend to be reflected in the emotional experience of browsing Facebook or Twitter.Among many implications, the results of this dissertation suggest that social media is not whipping people into a frenzy on average, but rather, is predominantly calming. While counterintuitive, this result is robust and is found with both Facebook and Twitter.

Resource allocation mechanisms have become a major issue for transportation agencies in the United States and around the world. For this reason, transportation agencies are exploring alternatives to modify traditional allocation mechanism due to budgetary challenges generated by the decrease in funding and the increasing cost of preserving and operating transportation systems. Transportation asset management (TAM) practices enable agencies to change the operation and management of transportation infrastructure from the traditional concept of “public-owned” systems to more business-oriented processes. One of the main concerns with the TAM framework and its implementation is the absence of an organized process for cross-asset resource allocations. Additionally, most of the alternative methods for funding allocations focus on maximizing infrastructure performance under budget constraints, but ignore the consideration of equity or fairness. The objective of this study is to develop an innovative methodological framework for cross-asset resource allocations, yielding a data-oriented approach to enhancing infrastructure management. The allocation module is comprised of three resource allocation mechanisms following a top-down approach: a fair division approach based on asset performance, a performance-based multi-objective optimization, and an asset value-based multi-objective optimization. In the first mechanism, the fair division method is used to allocate resources in such a way that all parties involved believe they are receiving a fair share of the available resource based on established utility functions. Then, Collective Utility Functions (CUFs) are employed to perform the resource allocation, which results in total utility and total envy values. These values are used to conduct trade-off analyses of the different allocations based on the CUFs. Under the second procedure, a multi-objective optimization formulation is employed to integrate efficiency and equity, where equity is taken into consideration by using utility and envy concepts, while efficiency is incorporated by maximizing performance. In the third mechanism, an innovative asset value methodology is integrated into the cross-asset resource allocation process, serving as a common comparative measure between assets. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methodological framework, a case study was conducted using two asset groups, pavements and bridges, from the roadway network of the Austin District located in Texas. Results from the case study shows that the proposed methodological framework has great potential as a tool to support highway agencies in performing cross-asset resource allocations at the network level.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between positive self-disclosure posts on Facebook, episodic envy, life satisfaction, self-esteem and time spent on Facebook. In addition, this study examined if feelings of envy, level of life satisfaction self-esteem and time spent on Facebook predict the use of coping strategies used on Facebook. Participants viewed a Facebook page, developed for the study, then completed a survey with a series of questions regarding episodic envy, life satisfaction, coping with envy, self-esteem and demographic information. Overall, this study found that when individuals are faced with feelings of envy as a result of positive self-disclosure posts on Facebook, he or she also feels less satisfied with life. Envy was also found to be a predictor of deactivating ones’ Facebook profile to eliminate the stressor.

Conservatives and liberals disagree about the underlying motivations driving opposition to concentrated wealth. Liberals contend that such objections are often driven by legitimate fairness concerns, whereas conservatives frequently cite envy instead. Research and theory suggest that two particularly important contextual questions with respect to emotional reactions to wealth are its source (inherited or earned), and how that wealth is put to use, which could interactively and differentially influence liberals’ and conservatives’ reactions to affluent individuals. The current study aimed to empirically address whether liberals actually are more prone to envy than conservatives, both in general and in response to specific wealthy people of different backgrounds. Participants (N = 800) reported their reactions to ostensibly-real, wealthy entrepreneurs described in articles from a business news website. Liberals tended to respond with slightly more envy than conservatives across conditions, and controlling for several potential confounding factors, liberal political ideology was weakly positively correlated with dispositional envy. People across the political spectrum responded with greater envy in response to wealthy entrepreneurs who harmed others in the pursuit of wealth than entrepreneurs who did not harm others. However, liberals’ envy was increased more strongly by entrepreneurial harm-doing than conservatives’, and this difference was explained by greater perceived harm and unfairness. On the other hand, only conservatives reacted with greater envy to entrepreneurs who inherited their wealth rather than having earned it through hard work. Especially because, in addition to envy, liberals felt somewhat more resentment, moral disgust, and anger toward the wealthy entrepreneurs, further research will be necessary to fully understand the role of political ideology in reactions to affluent people.

This dissertation investigates the situational appraisals that are theorized to influence envy. When someone experiences an upward comparison, their response may be influenced by appraisals about the other person (e.g., similarity, closeness), the desired object (e.g. attainability), and the surrounding situation (e.g. fairness). These appraisals may elicit envy or moderate how an envier is motivated to respond. The studies in this dissertation use a variety of perspectives to investigate these appraisals and their associations with envious responses.Chapter 1 finds that recalled envy experiences primarily occur towards superior others who are similar, in both close and distant relationships. These two studies use diverse samples to explore envy across adulthood, including differences with age in what domains people envy.Three studies in Chapter 2 find complex, replicable patterns of relationships between appraisals and envious responses in recalled envy experiences. These studies look at envy both from the internal perspective of enviers and from the external perspective of targets of envy. Chapter 3 uses an in-lab social comparison manipulation in order to investigate the effects of two appraisals about the superior person: similarity and closeness. These appraisals are manipulated in strangers (Study 3.1 & 3.2) and measured in pairs of established friends (Study 3.3 & 3.4). In all four studies, these appraisals have few effects on the feelings and motivations of envy immediately after a comparison, suggesting that there is not a direct causal relationship between these appraisals and envious responses. Together, these studies uncover many nuances in the appraisal-response relationships of envy. Although envy may occur more often in particular contexts, and certain appraisals may be associated with specific responses, these appraisals do not necessarily directly elicit envy. Additionally, this research supports the contention that envy can motivate of a range of potential responses, highlighting the complexity in this social emotion.

Envy functions in resource competition situations in which a competitor out-competes oneself in a fitness relevant domain (Hill & Buss, 2006, 2008). Research suggests that there are two types of envy, a hostile version, aimed at depriving the envied person of his or her advantage, and a benign version, aimed at gaining an advantage for oneself (Parrott, 1991; van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2009). Three predictions were derived from the hypothesis that the selection of envy type is functional, taking into account the costs and benefits of a benign versus a hostile response: 1) Hostile envy was expected to be more likely when the advantage cant be acquired without taking it from the envied. 2) Benign envy was expected to be more likely when the relationship with the envied person is highly valuable to the envier. 3) Benign envy was expected to be more likely when the social environment favors the envied person. Additionally, the emotions experienced as part of envy were proposed to mediate the relationships between elements of the situation and responses to envy. Using a daily diary method, participants described their everyday experiences of envy, which were categorized as benign or hostile based on taxometric and latent class analyses. Prediction 1 was fully supported and prediction 2 was largely supported. Prediction 3 was not supported; instead participants' beliefs about the envied person's deservingness directly affected envy type. Mediation analyses supported the proposal that emotions mediate the relationships between situations and responses. The degree to which the envied person's possession of the advantage makes it harder for the envier to get emerged as an important factor in how one responds to hostile envy.

In this study, I develop and test a model that explains when and why workplace envy can enhance task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Drawing on counterfactual theory, I propose that workplace envy plays a functional role: employees who envy coworkers learn from their envied targets via systematic information processing, especially when the enviers have high core self-evaluations (CSE) or when the envied targets provide help to enviers. To further understand the social influence of envy in triggering interpersonal dynamic processes, I delineate the processes and conditions that will prompt targets of envy to help enviers. I propose that envied targets are likely to perceive envy and will try to appease enviers by extending help, especially when enviers have central positions in friendship networks and thus can potentially undermine the target's workplace social relationships. I collect data from Korean bank tellers and insurance sales agents and use a round robin design showing that the envy-learning relationship is contingent on CSE and received help from the target and that learning from coworkers contributes to job performance via work engagement. In addition, targets are likely to perceive the envy but are not motivated to extend help even when the envier has high friendship network centrality. I discuss the implications and limitations of the study.

My dissertation examines how individuals respond to workplace social comparisons. I measure the explicit set of referent others that individuals compare themselves against in order to evaluate their own level of performance. I examine how the social context of these comparisons impact discretionary performance related behaviors by examining how an individual’s position within a social network and the structural characteristics of an individual’s reference group influences the experience of discrete emotions. Specifically, I examine how malicious envy and benign envy mediate the relationship between social comparison and workplace behavior in a field setting. Results indicate that social network structure plays a significant role in motivating both productive and counterproductive responses to social comparison. Whether or not an employee responds to upward social comparisons by increasing their own work effort or engaging in deviant behavior is influenced by the experience of benign and malicious envy, which is in turn influencedby the network structure of reference groups. Furthermore, social network position plays a moderating role in the occurrence of workplace deviance by either enhancing or limiting the opportunities an employee has to engage in deviant behavior.

Envy is a painful emotion that can negatively impact one’s self-worth. It is also a shameful, socially undesirable emotion, implying both inferiority and hostility. Some scholars suggest that these features of envy lead to a need to cope with the emotion. Thus, over time, envy tends to be transformed into more socially acceptable responses such as resentment or dislike. The present study tested this claim. First, envy was manipulated by asking participants to read an article containing an interview with either a high- or low-envy target. The second article manipulated the likeability of the target by varying whether or not he or she made an arrogant statement. Finally, a third article indicated that the target had suffered a misfortune. Although, as predicted, envy decreased, the manipulation of likeability did not affect this decrease. Consistent with predictions, resentment increased after the second article and this was more likely when the target was dislikeable than when the target was likeable. Finally, the participants felt greater schadenfreude when the dislikeable target suffered than when the likeable target suffered and marginally more schadenfreude when the target was more enviable. Clearly, envy dissipated over time, but further research is needed to determine precisely why.

Humans engage their environment through the combined effort of the mind, body proper and corresponding instinctual emotive devices (Damasio, 1994). These structures are a part of the same phenomena: human biology. Our emotive devices along with the brain and body act as an interwoven organism appraising the environment and making necessary adjustments for it survival and efficient functioning. Moreover, these structures actively engage socially complex signals like those that we experience daily in our social world. Plausibly, when these devices are not utilized the interwoven organism will be in a state of atrophy. Much like an antigen would trigger a reaction from the body to promote homeostasis, this same idea can be applied to a social agent of alienation viewed through four dimensions of negative social valence: envy, embarrassment, guilt, and shame. This exploratory research employed an Evolutionary Psychology perspective whereby the human mind is viewed through the lens of the physiological and psychological mechanisms that created the developmental programs we use today (Cosmides & Tooby, 1992). This theoretical framework was used to study the relationship between human behavior, the state of alienation, and SNS. Based on survey data from college students, there seemed to be a relationship between alienation and Social Networking Sites. Alienation dimensions were highest among those who had the lowest amount of contacts on SNS. The findings from this study will add to the body of knowledge on Computer Mediated Communication as well as afford an opportunity for further research in understanding human behavior engaged in SNS through the viewpoint of Evolutionary Psychology.

This dissertation is about how social comparisons leading to envy and pride impact decisions. We, humans, may feel envious and proud for different reasons. One view is that comparing our performance with others' can give us a useful signal about our productivity and skill, and then envy and pride just help us to learn from such experience. The other plausible view is that envy and pride may reflect changes in social status, where dominance in social group is the ultimate objective. In Chapter 1 we report the results of fMRI experiment in which subjects faced simple decision problem in both private and social environments without strategic interactions. The analysis of behavioral and neural data provides evidence for subjects performing social comparisons exhibiting envy and pride while evaluating outcomes of decisions. This effect is even stronger if decision-makers bear relatively more responsibility for the resulting difference in outcomes. In Chapters 2 and 3 we explore social comparisons in strategic situations focusing on 3-person ultimatum game, first in purely behavioral and then in fMRI experiments. In the former we find evidence for responders exhibiting envy and pride. In Chapter 3 we focused on neural basis of rejections of low but positive amounts of money by responders. We show that the involvement of negative emotions in rejections of such low but positive offers is not due to their unfairness, but rather reflects negative reputational signal that the actual acceptance can send to others about the responder. Finally, we implicated nucleus accumbens in the decision process behind responders' decision on low but positive offers. This is an area, shown elsewhere to track subjective value of rewards, and that exhibited envy and pride effects documented in chapter 1. From the methodological standpoint Chapters 1 and 3 show how an economist can test an economic model on both behavioral and neural data. Such tests of economic theory are more credible in our view despite the necessity of making additional assumptions related to the use of neural data.