Envious people: these 8 psychological characteristics define them

Personal relationships have a double edge. 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, they increase our chances of entering into 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 that relational dynamic or to take into account their predisposition to avoid short-term problems.

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The characteristics of envious people

In the day to day we usually hide those characteristics that we know are bad views. Envious people also do it, but in any case it is possible to recognize those signs that identify them as such. Let's see what they are.

1. Self-esteem based on attention

The self-esteem of envious people is based especially on appearances, the aesthetic. This makes them easily compare with others , since our appearance, our charisma and other qualities based on appearances are easily recognizable, even though we do not expressly fixate on them. We simply value them automatically in a matter of 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.

• Related article: "Low self-esteem? When you become your worst enemy"

2. Use of teasing based on common places

Envious people can use any resource to humiliate who they consider their rival, and it shows in the criticism they make to others. His negative comments about other people, many times, have no substance and are limited to implying 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 of not having a car. These are comments that portray more to the person who pronounces them than to 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 far beyond being simple unpopularity, there are propaganda campaigns aimed at stoking hatred against them).

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3. Undermining the merits of others

Whether they have participated in it or not, envious people tend to attribute the success of the rest to the luck or intermediation of other people. The idea is avoid as much as possible that someone in your environment stands out , and if for that they should spread rumors about not noble methods made to climb in the organigrams or to gain fame, they will do it equally.

4. Discouragement

Before exciting projects of others, envious people they try to dissuade them from trying , usually appealing to "good sense" and "rationality", that is, they encourage doubts about one's own abilities. This is done systematically, regardless of whether those initiatives are realistic or not.

5. The demonstration of power

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

6. Machiavellian vision of friendship

Envious people can get to see many of their friends as a means to enjoy a better image and be at the same level of popularity as "the rivals". For that reason, they try to make the people of their close circle moderately popular and respected, although not in excess, since if this is the case, they 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's why with great ease they can interpret everything as an attack or a personal offense .

In other words, any attempt to do something that draws attention positively is interpreted as a threat to the power 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

At the moment when, out of courtesy, they must congratulate someone for having achieved something worthy, they do it in a mechanical way, and you notice a certain overacting . In these cases they do not have to try to belittle the other, simply "they pass the bad gulp" hoping that another propitious moment to attack appears.

9. Take advantage of the umbrella of fame

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