You might be surprised that the silver medalists, at least on the podium, seem less happy than the bronze medalists. In 1995, American psychologist Thomas Gilovich, looked at the relative amount of happiness for the medalists of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The psychologist asked subjects to rate videos of the medal ceremonies for the amount of happiness expressed.
Silver medalists were unhappy compared with bronze medalists. The psychologist was supporting a theory by Khaneman and Tversky that regrets have less to do with actual outcomes than how far they fell short of what we imagined. In fact the theory would predict that silver medalists, the closer they came to winning the gold, the less happy they would feel with silver.
The nearer you came the greater the regret. Bronze medalists were often just happy to be there. Khaneman and Tversky went on to win the Nobel Prize for economics building on this and other theories.
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I actually understand this -- because it describes how I feel. "Second place" feels so degrading ... like "second best." I'd rather be skipped over entirely than have to accept some kind of "runner-up" trophy. (Yes, I know how illogical this is. I also know ... it's how I feel.)
And I can also understand why the bronzers are elated ... because they probably never expected to win in the first place, so this is a triumph for them. (And, of course, they will have seen the excellence of the winner ... and if they're honest, they know why that person took the gold and they didn't.)
I'm a pretty good judge of my own work. I know when someone else has written something better than I could do -- written the way I wish I could. And I know how "second prize" can feel like not so much of an honor. Your post gave me an interesting moment of insight. Thank you for writing it.
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Cool. I would still take the silver despite regrets
Why would you feel more sad the closer you get to your dreams? It doesn't quite make sense, but then again, the way the mind works often doesn't make sense.
That's the kind of thing they were studying, why we make systematic mistakes that are not sensible... especially useful in understanding economics. Even statisticians will take a bet they know is wrong statistically because they are often concerned with regret more than value
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Very funny how the human mind works. Thanks for sharing!
Neat. Makes sense.
I wonder if what actually matters is how close they came. Like if you have a gold medalist who wins in a landslide, and a silver and bronze who are about the same, maybe in those cases the silver feels about the same as the bronze? Or same if it's a 3-way photo finish or whatnot, that the bronze is equally disappointed in that case.
And just, in general, the bronze will correlate more with not being as close.
Like I wonder if it's truly the separation of "third place" or if it's the margin you lost by and the feeling that you could have done it but didn't.
I think margin is a big factor. Another example: 2 people miss 2 diferrent flights that are supposed to leave at 7 am. They arrive together at 745 with traffic slowing them. One learns his plane left on time, and the other (lets call him Phil) learns it left a minute before they arrive. In this instance Phil is more frustrated/upset even though the outcomes/predicament was identical. How late does his plane need to depart for it to (illogically) aggravate him more than his peer?
Ya, for sure!
I do see how the "illogical-ness" can serve an evolutionary purpose.
It shouldn't truly matter, outside of your control, what time the plane decided to leave. But in a result-oriented way, Phil can monday morning quarterback more scenarios where he makes it.
"if only I didn't brush my teeth for so long", "if only I had been rude and walked thru the people standing still on the moving walkway"
It DOES seem more annoying in this case, even tho intellectually you know you should measure and reconsider your behavior equally in both cases.
Maybe the feeling is there as like a primitive way to force us to dwell on it and reconsider our mistakes whenever we had a chance to cause a different outcome?
Well, the closer to his late arrival the more aggravating or upset I think
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Yeah, for competitive peeps, even getting a gold will never be enough , sad to say :(
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STOPI would prefer bronze if you ask me. When you think about it, both teams lost one out of two games, but the bronze medal winner finished the tournament on a high note :)
Like your attitude should be regret proof
Yes, to some people, getting the 2nd place feels like oh dear what a shame i've just lost by a nose.
But it's better than nothing for me and I'll be on cloud 9 when it comes to 2nd place, I'm the kind of person nowhere near of the podium.
Its meeting the expectation that matters, since you don't expect much its is easier to be happy/content
That's very interesting. I've had personal experiences outside of sports that conform to that theory.
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Pretty interesting article and it actually seems to be quite true. The more regrets you have the less happy you are.