The Russian Adaptation of the Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS)

Abstract

The current paper covers the results of the Russian adaptation of The Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS) by Crusius and Lange. The questionnaire includes two scales measuring two types of dispositional envy, benign and malicious. Benign envy is associated with striving for self-development and achieving high results, and the desire to rise to the level of the envied person. Malicious envy is associated with hostility towards another person and the desire to harm one. It is characterized by a desire to pull the envied person down to one’s own level. The questionnaire was administered to 254 participants. Factor analysis revealed a clear two-factor structure corresponding with the BeMaS. Reliability of the both scales was found to be high (α = .84). For validation, the questionnaire results were correlated with a number of other measures. Both scales correlated positively with Dark Triad traits and the orientation to ability comparison. Malicious envy scale correlated positively with the tendency to give socially desirable answers. On the whole the results show satisfactory validity of the Russian version; they are, however, preliminary and should be refined and enriched in future studies. The Russian version of the BeMaS can be used in research on emotion and motivation and in a number of applied fields, e.g., organizational psychology or psychological counselling.