What Might an Envious Character Do? These 8 Psychological Characteristics Define Them

There are people who at any indication that an acquaintance stands out in something, they see it as an offense.


Personal relationships are double-edged. On the one hand, they allow us to obtain the affection and protection that the company of friends and family offers us, as well as the products and services that others seek. But, on the other hand, they increase our chances of conflict.


Envious people are a constant source of conflict, among other things, because it is not even necessary to come into direct contact with them. Knowing how to recognize them is very useful, since it allows either to help them get out of this relational dynamic or to take into account their predisposition to avoid problems in the short term.

The characteristics of envious people


On a daily basis we usually hide those characteristics that we know are frowned upon. Envious people do it too, but it is still possible to recognize those signs that identify them as such. Let's see what they are.


1. Attention-based self-esteem


The self-esteem of envious people is based especially on appearances, aesthetics. This makes them easy to compare with others, since our appearance, our charisma and other qualities based on appearances are easily recognizable, even if we do not expressly pay attention to them. We simply rate them automatically in seconds.


Thus, envious people are capable of being attacked simply by the aesthetics of people whom they consider better than them without even knowing them.


2. Use of taunts based on platitudes


Envious people can use any resource to humiliate those they consider their rival, and this is evident in the criticisms they make of others. Their negative comments about other people, many times, have no substance and are limited to insinuate supposed qualities that in many cases are not even negative from a rational perspective.


For example, they may resort to accusing someone of being a vegetarian, or homosexual, or for not having a car. They are comments that portray the person who pronounces them more than the person to whom they are addressed, but they take advantage of a historical unpopularity that does not need to be justified (in the case of homosexuality, it goes much further than being simple unpopularity, there are campaigns propaganda aimed at stoking hatred against them).


3. Undermining the merits of others


Whether they participated in it or not, envious people tend to attribute the success of others to luck or the intermediation of other people. The idea is to avoid as much as possible that someone in your environment stands out a lot, and if for this they must spread rumors about less noble methods made to climb the organization charts or to gain fame, they will do it anyway.


4. Discouragement


In the face of exciting projects from others, envious people try to dissuade them from trying, usually by appealing to "good sense" and "rationality", that is, they encourage people to question their own abilities. This is done in a systematic way, regardless of whether these initiatives are really realistic or not.


5. The show of power


Although this is not as common as the rest of the characteristics, in some of the envious people who are also very narcissistic, it happens that they try to make everyone see their achievements in order to gain positions in that constant competition that they think is social life.


6. Machiavellian vision of friendship


Envious people can come to see many of their friends as a means to enjoy a better image and be at the same level of popularity as "rivals". For this reason, they try to make the people of their close circle moderately popular and respected, although not excessively, since if this were the case, the situation would create new rivalries.


7. Constant defensive attitude


Another characteristic of envious people is that they do not limit themselves to attacking others, but also expect others to do the same with them. That is why they can easily interpret everything as an attack or a personal offense.


In other words, any attempt to do something that attracts positive attention is interpreted as a threat to the power that one has in a particular social circle. The same happens when, without looking for it, someone exhibits a quality that unintentionally produces admiration in others.


8. Forced congratulations


When, out of courtesy, they should congratulate someone for having achieved something worthwhile, they do so in a mechanical way, and you can see a certain overacting. In these cases, they do not have to try to belittle the other, they simply "have a hard time" waiting for another moment to attack.


9. Seize the umbrella of fame


In some cases, someone close to the envious people gets a certain reputation and becomes a public figure. In these cases, those who are envious and mismanage it can take advantage of the fact that they have met that celebrity in the past to spread rumors about her and achieve a double effect: damaging her image and receiving attention for having information about that popular person.