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News: Is it best to expect the worst?
Expecting the worst may not make you feel any better when faced with a disappointment,
say psychology researchers who have tested the age-old advice.
Margaret Marshall and Jonathon Brown asked more than 80 college students to practise a word-association puzzle on a computer. The students then rated how well they expected
to perform on a second set of such problems. Half were given an easier set than their practice
round while the others were given a harder one, ensuring that their performances would
exceed, or fall short of, their expectations.
The result? Students who expected to do badly actually felt worse when they messed up
than those who had predicted that they would do well, the researchers told [email protected].
The researchers think that a person's reaction to failure is maily determined by their general
outlook on life. Those with a generally gloomy disposition tend to be easily cast down by failure,
while those with a sunny outlook don't mind so much if they fail, they say. Sadly, changing our
natural temperament is a difficult task, so there's no simple advice about how best to cushion
the blow of failure.
Contact for background information
Helen Pearson (Journalist, Nature)
E-mail: [email protected]
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Ruth Francis, Nature London
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