#63 The Struggle of Second Best

The Struggle of Second Best

Have you ever come in 2nd place, perhaps for a job you wanted, or during a school athletic or academic competition? 

How did you feel?

Coming in 2nd is hard.  Research on the facial expressions of gold, silver and bronze medalists in the 1992 Olympic games concluded that bronze medalists tend to be happier than silver medalists.  This is because we all envision “what might have been” and compare ourselves to the next most likely future.  For silver medalists, they ruminate about how close they were to winning gold.  For bronze medalists, they consider all the competitors who didn’t medal at all.  

According to this Olympic study’s co-author, Psychologist Tom Gilovich, such “downward comparisons” can make people feel better. However, “upward comparisons” can inspire us to work harder. So, shifting back and forth between these two perspectives can help increase our emotional wellbeing, as well as our motivation to improve.