Psyche

This is the effect of giving compliments

By Isabel ten Brink | #!30Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:42 +0200+02:004230#30Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:42 +0200+02:00-10Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam202430 07am30am-30Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:42 +0200+02:0010Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam2024302024Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:42 +02000010009amSaturday=9#!30Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:42 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam9#09-07-2024#!30Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:42 +0200+02:004230#/30Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:42 +0200+02:00-10Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam202430#!30Sat, 07 Sep 2024 10:00:42 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam9#

How nice is it when you arrive at work and someone says ‘what a nice pair of pants you have on’ or ‘your hair looks great’. If all goes well, you immediately get a smile on your face, and if you're feeling down, such a compliment can make a big difference to how you feel that day. We should definitely give each other more compliments, especially since you know it can do so much good for someone else. But Americans throw so many compliments back and forth that you wonder how much it still means. In the Netherlands, we are very different in that regard.

Research has shown that compliments increase your reaction ability. So you literally get an energy boost from them! Test subjects performed tasks faster when they received compliments than when they were insulted or even addressed neutrally. So thanks to a compliment, you get more done, and you feel more motivated at work to do well. Giving compliments to colleagues, as long as they are sincere, leads to a more productive workplace. And of course, it also benefits the work atmosphere. People also report sick less often, probably because the stress level is much lower due to the positive vibes, and therefore fewer complaints arise.

In daily life, you can see it this way: what you give, you get back. So if you radiate positive energy to another, you will also receive that back. But it is important to keep in mind that you really have to mean it. Just think of that scene in ‘Mean Girls’, where Regina gives a non-sincere compliment to Cady: ‘OMG, I love your bracelet, where did you get it?’ Cady only realizes later that Regina didn't mean it kindly at all, which made the blow hit harder. That argument escalated enormously, of course; you wouldn't want that to happen in real life, but it is good to keep in mind that your compliment only has a positive effect if you say it with sincere intentions. Then giving that compliment also has a positive effect on yourself, because making someone else happy also provides a positive boost for most people.