Malice (communication)

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Häme describes an act of communication that relates to harm to another person. This damage occurs independently of the orator (strategic communicator of the malice), but is considered by him to be deserved. The malevolent orator enjoys the damage done to his counterpart. The defamation of the other person and your own profiling target of malice. Thus malice is a behavior and not an emotion . Malice is a combination of glee , know-it-all and sadism .

Concept history

In Middle High German hem [i] sch meant “hidden”, “malicious” or “devious”, which was a further development of the Middle High German word hem (“striving to harm”, “defiant”). Hem probably belonged in the sense of “veiled” or “hidden” to the Middle High German word ham [e] (“shell”). Then later, in the early New High German phase , the words “heimisch”, “heimlich” and “maliciously” mixed up.

In other European languages ​​there are terms such as “malice” (English), “malicia” (Spanish) or “malveillance” (French), which can be translated as malice , malice or malice . The prefix “mal” (in German “bad”) is not present in any of the German translations, but the “bad” is inherent in all translations .

Malice as a communication method

Malice can be both an act of speech ( speech act ) and a method of communication. Communication method is to be understood as "the type of processing of the communication object in the service of a higher-level intention (intention, objective)". A speech act means a single sentence. The vernacular refers to such individual sentences when it speaks of malice. Häme is used as a communication method to achieve an overarching goal. For example, the opposite should be humiliated in order to distinguish oneself, or malice is used to create togetherness through exclusion. At the same time, the act of speaking heme is not subordinate to any strategic approach. It follows that the speech act relates to the intentional aspect of a single malicious utterance; the communication procedure on the more far-reaching operational aspect.

Conditions for malice

initial situation

The malicious orator (haemic) and his counterpart, or the group facing him, form the communicative constellation. A personal acquaintance may or may not exist. The haemicist is initially equal or inferior to his counterpart, but never superior. With the use of malice he wants to put himself above his counterpart. There is a tension between the people. This can arise from differing opinions, attitudes (e.g. political views) or statements.

The presence of an audience increases the effect of the malice, but is not a necessary condition. Media channels such as Facebook , Twitter or YouTube can also create the constellation and serve as communicative access.

Act of malice

In order to be able to practice malice, an incident (e.g. accident, injury, mishap) must first occur with the other party. This occurs without the help of the malicious orator . The claim is related to the tension between the two and supports the opinion of the haemicist. The aim of the malicious act is the perceived increase in the position of power of the malicious at the expense of the counterpart.

Psychological conditions

When another person suffers damage, people respond with either compassion or glee , which is an emotion . This manifests itself as malice in certain situations. In contrast to compassion, malicious pleasure is only felt and malice communicated if the claim is considered to be earned. This is the case when the other person is socially superior to the orator or in certain situations. When people compare socially, the anterior cingulate cortex is activated in the brain . This leads to the feeling of envy , which thus also plays a role in the expression of malice. If, however, misfortune happens to the other person and this helps to reduce the inequality between the harmed person and the haemicist, joy is felt. The ventral striatum and the medial orbitofrontal cortex, which are part of the reward system, are activated in the brain .

Interaction space

In addition to face-to-face conversations, it is mainly used in social media and in comments on articles in online newspapers. On the Internet, the supposed anonymity in combination with the inflationary shitstorm culture offers the ideal conditions for expressing malice. The comment function and the possibility of anonymity lower the inhibition threshold for using the malice. Here, however, it is important to separate the speech act from the communication process that pursues a higher strategic goal. When using malice on social media , reach and audience are also decisive factors in determining its impact.

Malice as a literary process

The use of malice as a literary process does not coincide with its use as a communication process. As with Schopenhauer , this is also about self-exaltation in the literature , but an argumentum ad personam is not necessarily used. "His malice is hidden [...], because the open attack in the argument would respond to the (ethical or lyrical) seriousness of the opponent and accept his concerns, but the seriousness is not to hold. Wherever there is interest, there is only one form of exaggeration - malice. ”The clear difference between literary malice and the same communication method is evident in the proximity to criticism . Malice here is often a self-reflective instrument for expressing criticism in an unconventional, possibly even entertaining way: Malice “only gives someone who cannot be fooled into moral superiority. Her source is personal and lies in the bitter insight that one is no different oneself. Only this insight, which remains despite the political decision and gives it that uncanny abyss, turns criticism into malice, in which the personal sting continues to work. [...] Malice will always be right, depending on the situation. It is a situational instrument; it achieves its constancy at the expense of a positive ego, or [...] at the expense of authenticity. "

Thus, malice as a literary process requires neither malicious pleasure nor sadism. Know-it-alls can resonate with it, but it is not constitutive.

Malice as a game

→ Main article: Heme games

Playing out hate can already be found as a game idea in children's games . In the game, exciting reality is created, possibilities are tried out, the reactions of others are tested, fun and ridicule are staged. This also includes living out the pleasure of tricking someone playfully. The picture stories by the humorous poet and draftsman Wilhelm Busch provide vivid examples , for example in the imaginative strokes by Max and Moritz . In the irreverent verbal challenge “Hey, get out! You goat bock! Tailor, tailor, meck, meck, meck! ”Shows at the same time a disregard for the malicious sacrifice.

Wilhelm Busch : Max and Moritz. Hämespiel with master tailor Böck

Because of the exposure of fellow players, the so-called heme games belong to the game forms that are viewed critically from a psychological point of view, because the triumph of successful deception on the part of the playmaker is often offset by the feeling of humiliation on the part of those affected.

A typical example of this type of game is the old street game “ The fleeing wallet ”, in which the supposedly lucky find turns out to be a bad joke. The old children's game of the “ goose thief ”, in which a child is denounced in a ritual circle game as a “goose thief” that no one loves anymore, often proves to be hardly bearable for the children concerned. The verbally degrading expulsion from the game in front of an audience of millions in the television program “ The weakest flies ” brought tears to the eyes even of the adult game participants concerned.

Heme games are especially popular in free (unguided and unattended) children's play. In the pedagogical framework, because of the high level of vulnerability and the corresponding production of tiredness from playing, they experience careful support and methodical design by adults who are experienced in games. The game scientists Warwitz / Rudolf name the positive effects of these forms of play on the one hand as learning to tolerate frustration , ie stabilizing the ego identity by improving mental resilience, and the resulting opportunity to laugh at yourself. On the other hand, they see meta-reflection as an opportunity to raise social awareness of the feelings triggered in those playing. Even Vygotsky emphasized the importance of using the whole spectrum of forms of play for the psychological development of the child.

literature

  • Wolfgang Einsiedler: The children's game. On the pedagogy and psychology of children's play. 3. Edition. Klinkhardt Verlag, Bad Heilbrunn 1999, ISBN 3-7815-0977-X .
  • Alexander Görlach : We want to see you fail !: how malice eats our country. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / New York 2014, ISBN 978-3-593-50042-3 .
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz , Anita Rudolf: Hämespiele. In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition. Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 152–160, ISBN 978-3-8340-1620-1 .
  • LS Vygotsky: The game and its meaning in the psychological development of the child. In: DB Elkonin (ed.): Psychology of the game. Critical Psychology Studies . Pahl-Rugenstein-Verlag, Cologne 1980.

Web links

Wiktionary: Häme  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Aaron Ben-Ze'ev: The personal comparative concern in schadenfreude. In: Wilco W. Van Dijk, Jaap W. Ouwerkerk (eds.): Schadenfreude . Understanding Pleasure at the Misfortune of Others. Cambridge 2014.
  2. ↑ Alexander Görlach: We want to see you fail! How malice eats our country. Frankfurt am Main 2014.
  3. ↑ Duden. Dictionary of Origin - Etymology of the German Language. 3., rework. and exp. Edition. Mannheim / Leipzig / Vienna / Zurich 2001.
  4. ^ Friedrich Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language. Arranged by Elmar Seebold. 24., through and exp. Edition. Berlin / New York 2002.
  5. ^ Georg Michel: On the relationship between speech act and communication process. Action theory positions in the linguistics of the GDR. In: Journal of Phonetics, Linguistics and Communication Research. 35, 1982, pp. 685-692.
  6. ^ Georg Michel: On the relationship between speech act and communication process. Action theory positions in the linguistics of the GDR. In: Journal of Phonetics, Linguistics and Communication Research. 35, 1982, p. 38.
  7. ^ Aaron Ben-Ze'ev: The personal comparative concern in schadenfreude. In: Wilco W. Van Dijk, Jaap W. Ouwerkerk (eds.): Schadenfreude. Understanding Pleasure at the Misfortune of Others. Cambridge 2014, p. 32.
  8. ^ Aaron Ben-Ze'ev: The personal comparative concern in schadenfreude. In: Wilco W. Van Dijk, Jaap W. Ouwerkerk (eds.): Schadenfreude. Understanding Pleasure at the Misfortune of Others. Cambridge 2014, p. 29.
  9. ^ Aaron Ben-Ze'ev: The personal comparative concern in schadenfreude. In: Wilco W. Van Dijk, Jaap W. Ouwerkerk (eds.): Schadenfreude. Understanding Pleasure at the Misfortune of Others. Cambridge 2014, p. 29.
  10. ↑ a b Hidehiko Takahashi, Motoichiro Kato, Masato Matsuura, Dean Mobbs, Tetsuya Suhara and others: When Your Gain Is My Pain and Your Pain Is My Gain: Neural Correlates of Envy and Schadenfreude. (on-line)
  11. ^ Aaron Ben-Ze'ev: The personal comparative concern in schadenfreude. In: Wilco W. Van Dijk, Jaap W. Ouwerkerk (eds.): Schadenfreude. Understanding Pleasure at the Misfortune of Others. Cambridge 2014, p. 110.
  12. ↑ Christoph König: Malice as a literary process. Günter Grass, Walter Jens and the effort of remembering. Göttingen 2008, p. 18.
  13. ↑ Christoph König: Malice as a literary process. Günter Grass, Walter Jens and the effort of remembering. Göttingen 2008, p. 18f.
  14. ↑ Wolfgang Einsiedler: The children's game. On the pedagogy and psychology of children's play. 3. Edition. Klinkhardt Publishing House, Bad Heilbrunn 1999.
  15. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Controversial forms of play. In: SA Warwitz, A. Rudolf: From the sense of playing. 4th edition. Verlag Schneider Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 126–160.
  16. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Hämespiele. In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition. Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 152–160.
  17. ↑ LS Vygotsky: The game and its meaning in the psychological development of the child. In: DB Elkonin (ed.): Psychology of the game. Critical Psychology Studies . Pahl-Rugenstein-Verlag, Cologne 1980.