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Grumpy? It's good for you.

iBlue

iBlue

macrumors Core
Original poster
Mar 17, 2005
19,180
16
London, England
In a bad mood? Don't worry - according to research, it's good for you.

An Australian psychology expert who has been studying emotions has found being grumpy makes us think more clearly.

In contrast to those annoying happy types, miserable people are better at decision-making and less gullible, his experiments showed.

While cheerfulness fosters creativity, gloominess breeds attentiveness and careful thinking, Professor Joe Forgas told Australian Science Magazine.

'Eeyore days'

The University of New South Wales researcher says a grumpy person can cope with more demanding situations than a happy one because of the way the brain "promotes information processing strategies".

He asked volunteers 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 outperformed those who were jolly - they made fewer mistakes and were better communicators.

Professor Forgas 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 Forgas said 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.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8339647.stm




There you go. Lets celebrate cantankerousness.
 
Grumpy people can get more done in less time as they are less prone to being bothered by other people.
 
arkitect said:
Tsk. :rolleyes:
Why do scientists always "research" the obvious things…
I've known this all my life.






;) :D
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Have they? I haven't noticed being such a happy and absent-minded person. Or maybe it's all the sunshine I was exposed to growing up in southern california. Tra la laaa, what were we talking about?
 
iPeter said:
Grumpy people can get more done in less time as they are less prone to being bothered by other people.
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Grumpy people make you grumpy! That's good! When you're grumpy, your face shows it and another person looks at you becomes grumpy too! And when another person looks at that person.. :p
 
Gregg2 said:
That's a good thing. Other studies have shown that a bad attitude can shorten your life expectancy.
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But you will get everything done sooner, so you won't need that extra time. :D

... I mean :mad:

no wait, I want that extra time :)
 
Wow, my judgement must never have been clouded. Good to know.


So it seems then, that I am the person to end all war.
 
munchmime said:
just because someone is grumpy doesn't necessarily mean that they have a bad attitude...
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True. I probably should have said "anger" to be more accurate about the studies. Anger does not equal grumpy either, but they're closely related. Not trying to be technical, just sardonic.
 
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