Human nature is unsurprising to anyone who's spent their lives interacting with people with eyes open. Yet some people need science to show them the obvious:
A new study found that winners – those who outperformed others on a competitive task – acted more aggressively against the people they beat than the losers did against the victors.
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It seems that people have a tendency to stomp down on those they have defeated, to really rub it in," said Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University.
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Losers, on the other hand, don't really act any more aggressively than normal against those who defeated them."
Bushman said this is the first study to examine whether winners or losers were more likely to act aggressively.
There were reasons to believe either side could have been more in a fighting mood, Bushman said. Losers might be the bigger aggressors, because they would be angry against those who prevented them from feeling competent. However, other research suggests that people are more aggressive when they feel powerful, as they may when they win a competition.
These results, though, suggest "losers are the ones who get the brunt of the aggression," he said...
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People were more aggressive when they were better off than when they were worse off than others," Bushman said.
Bushman said the fact that the findings were repeated in three different studies, in two different countries, suggest that there really is something about winning that makes people more aggressive.
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Losers need to watch out," he said.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-people-aggressive-defeated.html
