Why do people derive pleasure from the misfortune of others?

We can’t hide the fact that we often derive pleasure from the misfortune of others. For instances, we, students, often laugh when our classmate says something wrong during recitations. We also laugh and crack jokes when someone slides of the floor and when someone commits a mistake. Maybe it is already our nature. Sometimes, we take it as a joke or anything which is not that serious. For us, it sounds funny, but for others it may truly hurt their feelings.

Envy, discontentment and resentment or desire for another’s advantages; when we want something which belong to others, we do everything just to get it. But when we really can’t get it, we find contentment when we see them having a serious mistake. Anger, a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence; I think it is also one of the reason why we laugh while others are crying. Sometimes, we can’t avoid having conflict with somebody. We also have the ego and our pride is always with us. We always want to win, so when our contenders had a mistake, we take it as an advantage for us.