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Bad Mood Rising Makes You Less Gullible

Insight #17

Lately I’ve been practicing to be a crotchety old man. And why not? I’ve earned the right to have some fun, finally. (You'll know what I mean when your age catches up with mine. And yes, being a crabby old lady can be as much fun. So I've been told.)

There’s an added incentive for me to be grumpy. My bad moods help me think more smartly. Any thinking, not just how to be clever at being cranky.

Believe it or not, it's backed up by science. After years of studying the dumps down under, an Australian psychologist concluded that grumpiness does, indeed, make for better thinking. According to Professor Joe Forgas, the way the brain processes information means that bad moods make you pay more attention to your environment and so trigger careful thinking.

Let me give you a practical example. My old standby, the charging lioness example. We were all in a good mood on our first morning on the walking safari in the African bush. The sun was shining, life was great, and nothing could make us frown, not even the glare from the sun. Which is why we did not pay the required attention, the careful type, to the novel environment around us. No wonder the charging lioness came as such a surprise. Now, if we had been in a bad mood, glaring at the bush, kicking out at the dung on our path...

Here's another discovery from down under. Being cheerful might make you more creative, but gloomy makes you less gullible. Think about that. And the really useful bit? A grumpy person, me for example, copes better with demanding situations than a cheerful person would.

I have wondered long and hard how to use this scientific discovery. Now that I am at an age where I am expected to give back, what can I share easily and joyfully? The benefits of being grumpy, of course!

But how best can I do that? By creating demanding situations for those cheery chappies who put me in a bad mood in the first place.

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.

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I boost careers by helping people deal with the nonsense of pleasing a boss, playing nice with colleagues, making subordinates productive, and living a life. Read more​

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