The bad things that happen to happy people
Even if you’re a relatively happy person, you’re bound to run into people who are even more annoyingly happy than you.
If you can’t be as happy as those annoyingly happy people, at least you can take solace in one fact: They’re more likely to get ripped off, new research suggests.
Researchers at New York University, the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania recently performed a series of studies on the perception of extremely happy people and concluded that they are often assumed to be pushovers.
There is copious research to suggest that appearing happy confers lots of advantages in life, both in personal relationships and in the workplace. But no research has looked at whether very happy people and moderately happy people are treated differently. So the researchers carried out six different studies to determine how the expression of extreme happiness influences how people relate to one another.
The experiments suggest that very happy people are perceived to be as likable as and even warmer than moderately happy people.
However, they were also widely considered to be naive.
The researchers found their test subjects assumed, rightly or wrongly, that very happy people maintained their positive outlook either by not processing information deeply, or by sheltering themselves from negative information in the world.
And because of these beliefs, people were more likely to try to cheat those who seem very happy.
There is likely some truth to this stereotype. Past research has shown that expressions of anger or disappointment can help someone drive a harder bargain than happiness.
The findings have powerful implications, especially for those who engage in negotiations. For example, salespeople are often taught to be very cheerful, but there’s a risk this could make them seem unprepared, unknowledgeable or less skilled at negotiation, researchers say.
According to the researchers, it’s all about magnitude. Appearing moderately happy definitely greases the wheels of social interaction, but too much happiness may lead to a less favourable perception.