According To A Study, Sadness Makes People More Careful In Dealing With Problems

Illustration of sadness according to psychological research (iStockphoto)

YOGYAKARTA – According to a poll conducted by Gallup, the level of stress, anxiety, and sadness in the global community reached a record high in 2020. It's not a good thing, from 26 to 33 in 2021. This means that the pandemic has a major effect on the mood of people around the world. But behind these results, Barbara Blatchley, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, shows that sadness actually has a positive effect on cognitive aspects of a person.

A study conducted over 50 years, reported by Psychology Today, Monday, August 1. This research shows that thoughts and emotions interact with each other so that mood affects our cognition. In general, when we are in a positive mood, we tend to remember positive and pleasant memories. Conversely, when in a negative mood, bad memories are more accessible.

Bodenhausen and colleagues, 1994, found that not all negative moods affect social judgment in the same way. They hypothesized that anger is associated with immediate threats and requires prompt action. So angry people tend to act impulsively and rely more on 'heuristics'.

Illustration of sadness according to psychological research (iStockphoto)

Heuristics are generalizations, rules of thumb, or mental shortcuts by making problem solving faster. Often tends to be inaccurate or irrational. One well-known heuristic is stereotyping, which tends to allow a negative or positive first impression to judge everything that other people do.

On the other hand, sadness has a negative valence, triggered by long-term problems. While quick action is not the best approach to assessing triggers for grief. That is, weighing the problem at a slower and more prudent time will result in a better solution.

Bodenhousen's research shows that angry participants rely more on a person's skills to persuade them to a certain side. Angry people are more swayed by assumptions to communicate an idea to build trust. While sad people pay more attention to the arguments made.

Batchley, through Bodenhousen's research, concluded that sadness makes people more inclined to think in analyzing information in social situations and pay attention to the details of arguments. Perhaps, grief can help a person to think carefully about the problem he or she is facing, writes Blatchley.

How about you, does sadness make you more conscientious in deciding or expressing your thoughts?