In the study, Canadian psychologists had people with regrets complete this sentence: “Most people my age have regrets which are ______ than my own,” selecting a response on a scale from “much more severe” to “much less severe.”
People who said that others were worse off than they were felt happier on a follow-up questionnaire 4 months later. But that’s not all: In the 3 months after the initial survey, the upbeat folks had fewer colds than people who said their peers were better off, reports thePersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Comparing yourself to others who are in worse positions than you are—say, by watching The Jerry Springer Show or thinking of your unemployed cousin—is called a downward social comparison. “Downward social comparisons can protect our egos because they allow us to see that while our circumstances may not be ideal, they could be worse. And in fact, they are worse for many other people,” says Isabelle Bauer, Ph.D., lead author of the study. Research has shown this kind of thinking is an effective coping mechanism for regrets you can’t remedy.
On the other hand, study subjects who said other people were better off just ended up dwelling on how they might gain equal footing with those better-off folks—possibly keeping themselves from moving on and setting new goals, Bauer explains.
So what’s the connection to colds? “Our study showed, specifically, that downward social comparisons could protect against cold symptoms by increasing positive emotions,” Bauer said. Stress and anxiety can slow the body’s development of disease-fighting antibodies and stimulate the production of inflammation-causing cytokines, she explains.
Next time you’ve made a bad decision, just think of how other guys have it worse.