When it comes to the Olympic podium, did you know that bronze medalists are generally happier with their wins than silver medalists? It’s true, according to an interesting article I recently read, “The Happy Place on the Podium”.
While it would seem natural to assume that any athlete should be thrilled to even make it to the Olympics, let alone go home with a silver medal, the article cites a study by Dr. Victoria Medvec, a psychologist and professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Illinois, which shows that “third-place winners have upward thoughts (‘at least I won’) that increase satisfaction, whereas those who come in second tend to have downward ‘if only’ thoughts that decrease happiness.” This ‘what if’ thought process, known as counterfactual thinking, has been proven by Medvec and others to dampen amazing achievements, like winning an Olympic silver.
It’s sort of crazy when you think about it. An Olympic silver medal means that you’re better at your sport than everyone else in the entire world…except for one person. You would think this would be the cause for much joy, but Medvec’s study, “When Less Is More: Counterfactual Thinking and Satisfaction Among Olympic Medalists”, says that the experience of coming in second, in some cases, can be anything but joyful.
Her study recounts the story of Abel Kiviat, the 1,500 m silver medalist in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. Kiviat had the race won until Britain’s Arnold Jackson “came from nowhere” to beat him by one-tenth of a second. “I wake up sometimes and say, ‘What the heck happened to me?’ It’s like a nightmare.” Kiviat was 91 years old when he said this in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. It appears that thoughts about what might have been may plague us for a very long time.
Anyone out there ever experienced downward thoughts after placing second in a competition?
