English version of the Dispositional Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS)
Instruction text
Below, you will find statements related to situations when you lack another’s superior quality, achievement, or possession and you either desire it or wish that the other lacks it. Please indicate for every statement how much you agree or disagree with it. There are no right or wrong answers. Don’t hesitate to indicate the first answer that comes to your mind.
Items
| # | Variable name | Item wording |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | benign1 | When I envy others, I focus on how I can become equally successful in the future. |
| 2 | malicious1 | I wish that superior people lose their advantage. |
| 3 | benign2 | If I notice that another person is better than me, I try to improve myself. |
| 4 | benign3 | Envying others motivates me to accomplish my goals. |
| 5 | malicious2 | If other people have something that I want for myself, I wish to take it away from them. |
| 6 | malicious3 | I feel ill will towards people I envy. |
| 7 | benign4 | I strive to reach other people’s superior achievements. |
| 8 | malicious4 | Envious feelings cause me to dislike the other person. |
| 9 | benign5 | If someone has superior qualities, achievements, or possessions, I try to attain them for myself. |
| 10 | malicious5 | Seeing other people’s achievements makes me resent them. |
Scale anchors
Participants answer on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree).
Scoring
The scale responses are scored by averaging the items of the benign envy and malicious envy subscales, respectively. Please find sample code here.
Reference
Lange, J., & Crusius, J. (2015). Dispositional envy revisited: Unraveling the motivational dynamics of benign and malicious envy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(2), 284–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214564959
PDF file
BeMaS_English_Lange_Crusius_2015.pdf
Other translations
Translations of the BeMaS to other languages can be found here.