Started a new job or meeting your partner’s friends for the first time? Before you join any new group, take a minute to write down about any happy experience — it might just make you more likeable, new research suggests.
The study, conducted by Gavin J. Kilduff of New York University and Adam D. Galinsky of Columbia University, found that people who were feeling happy after writing about a happy experience were rated higher by teammates those who joined without being made to feel happy before introductions. They note:
Our studies suggest that achieving status may also be a matter of being in the right frame of mind at the right time. One implication is that individuals may be able to achieve significantly higher status than their stable characteristics would predict if they can successfully adjust their psychological states or behaviour during initial group interaction.
Similar effects were seen in the study for individuals who were primed to feel eager and powerful before joining a new group, with the effects lingering for days.
From the Ephemeral to the Enduring: How Approach-Oriented Mindsets Lead to Greater Status [NYU Stern via Harvard Business Review]
Comments