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Winning makes people more aggressive toward the defeated

February 29, 2012

Winning makes people more aggressive toward the defeated

WINNING MAKES PEOPLE MORE AGGRESSIVE TOWARD THE DEFEATED

Brad Bushman, professor of communication, is co-author of a new study revealing that winners - those who outperformed others on a competitive task - acted more aggressively against the people they beat than the losers did against the victors.

"It seems that people have a tendency to stomp down on those they have defeated, to really rub it in," said Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University.

"Losers, on the other hand, don't really act any more aggressively than normal against those who defeated them."

Bushman said this is the first study to examine whether winners or losers were more likely to act aggressively.

Read the entire press release, courtesy of Jeff Grabmeier, office of research communications
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/loserwinner.htm