Well smarty pants, it turns out that feeling grumpy is good for you... well certainly me, of course. Although to be totally honest, it may not be good for those around you.. er, I mean me.
According to some swatty psychology Professor, an attack of the grumps can help you communicate better and makes you think more clearly. So that explains my vast intellect!
In contrast to those really annoying happy types, miserable people are better at decision-making and certainly less gullible, his experiments showed. Mmm... I wonder if he was happy or grumpy at those results?
Anyway, while cheerfulness promotes creativity (take my boss, Griff ...please! Mmm... on second thoughts please don't or he won't feed me my lovely prawns!), gloominess breeds attentiveness and careful thinking. The University of New South Wales researcher says a grumpy person can cope with more demanding situations (being an office cat for instance) than a happy one because of the way the brain "promotes information processing strategies".
Negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world ... Mmm, something I never do.
How was it done?
The Prof asked volunteers (not me) to watch different films and dwell on positive or negative events in their life, designed to put them in either a good or bad mood. Next he asked them to take part in a series of tasks, including judging the truth of urban myths and providing eyewitness accounts of events. Those in a bad mood (why wasn't I asked to be there?) outperformed those who were happy and jolly (foo yuk!) they made fewer mistakes and were better communicators.
The Prof later said: "Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, co-operation and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world."
The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which also showed that a "mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style".
His earlier work shows the weather has a similar impact on us - wet, dreary days sharpened memory, while bright sunny spells make people forgetful. Yeah, right!
Well, that's my excuse. What's yours?
Night, suckers...
www.griffwason.com
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