This is assuming children wouldn’t have egos. As young as 1.5 years, they form identities. I didn’t see malice in kids prior to that, and malice(which is different from violence, and even aggression due to a physical threat) needs some degree of intelligence. So kids younger than a year are incapable of it, anyway.
Not many non-primates exhibit malice because they lack required intelligence.
Pleasure from one-upping others is a social phenomenon. Pleasure, although it reinforces its need thereby perpetuating itself, is a reprieve from a myriad of pains that people face or even existential sadness. Like a fresh rain on a barren land.
Malice may be a part of human condition, but a huge part of it is caused by social identity. It’s everybody’s experience that they are far less likely to hurt when they are happy.
They got hurt due to their social identity.
That’s a conditioned response. That and many such reactions can be gotten rid of by just being aware of our responses.
We are of course, not talking about physical threats here, but about clearing out the hurts caused by our social identity. Sarcasm isn’t about physical hurt or threat.