Spite or spitefulness as a sentiment, action, or a personality trait has several possible meanings. According to the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

there is "no standard definition of spitefulness. Spite can be broadly defined to include any vindictive or mean-spirited actions. Alternatively, a narrower definition includes the requirement that spiteful acts involve some degree of

self-harm Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and s ...

." One possible definition of spite is to intentionally annoy, hurt, or upset even when there might be no (apparent) gain, and even when those actions might cause the person spiting harm, as well. ''Spiteful''

word A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...

s or actions are delivered in such a way that it is clear that the person is delivering them just to annoy, hurt, or upset. In his 1929 examination of emotional disturbances, ''Psychology and Morals: An Analysis of Character'', J. A. Hadfield uses deliberately spiteful acts to illustrate the difference between disposition and sentiment. Spite has also been studied as a trait of human personality; although in general spite has been largely ignored in academic literature.

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

researchers David K Marcus, Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Sterett H Mercer, and Alyssa L Norris were the first to develop a personality scale designed to measure and assess the trait of spitefulness which was published in 2014 in '' Psychological Assessment''.

Spite in literature

The Underground Man in

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

's novella '' Notes from Underground'', is an example of spite. His motivation remains constantly spiteful, undercutting his own existence and ability to live.

Spite in literature

See also

References

Further reading