Plan B Forum

Feeling grumpy 'is good for you'

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.


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.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/h ... 339647.stm

LONDON: Losing your temper could be good for you, researchers have found, because letting off steam can lessen the effects of stress.

The findings appeared to back up the common theory that venting emotions is better for mental health than keeping them locked up.

Expressing anger increased blood flow to a part of the brain that was thought to be involved in feelings of happiness, the research found.

A group of Spanish scientists were investigating what happens to the human body when we are enraged. To test responses they gathered 30 men in a laboratory and slowly increased their anger levels.

The volunteers were all given a list of written statements, asked to read each one and then recall a situation in which they felt that way. The sentences escalated gradually from "today is no different from any other day" to "I am consumed with hatred".

The men's heart rate, blood pressure and levels of two stress hormones, testosterone and cortisol, were measured and their brains scanned.

The findings, published in the journal Hormones and Behaviour, showed that anger stimulated the part of the brain associated with positive feelings, the left hemisphere.

Dr Neus Herrero, from the University of Valencia in Spain, who led the study, said that anger generated profound changes in the human body.

"In addition, changes in cerebral activity also occur, especially in the frontal and temporal lobes," he added.

However, anger was also found to have negative effects. The heart rates and blood pressure levels of the volunteers all increased. And although cortisol levels fell, testosterone levels increased.

http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/f ... -x1hb.html

loCAtek wrote:Tears for fears... really? That's as angry as you could get?

Gob wrote:

Feeling grumpy 'is good for you'

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.


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.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/h ... 339647.stm

So tempting to to do a title about the "other place"