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- Keeping secrets – at least for a little while – can make your day a little brighter
- The study found that people keep positive secrets for personal reasons in particular
Whether it’s an engagement announcement, a new job, or even a lottery win, we often want to share good news as soon as possible.
But keeping secrets — at least for a little while — can make your day, according to new research.
A team from Columbia University recruited more than 2,500 people to participate in their study, which included a series of experiments.
In one, participants were shown a list of nearly 40 common types of good news, including items such as saving money, buying themselves a gift, or reducing debt.
They pointed out the good news they currently had that they kept secret.
Keeping secrets — at least for a little while — can brighten your day, according to new research (stock image)
Some were asked to think about good news that they kept secret, while others thought about good news that was not secret, and then they rated how energized the news made them feel and whether they intended to share the news with someone else.
The team found that people on average carry 14 to 15 pieces of good news, but keep five or six of them secret.
Participants who thought about their positive secrets reported feeling more energized compared to participants who thought about their good news that was not a secret.
Those who reported that they intended to share their news with others also said they felt more energized.
In another experiment, participants were asked to choose news that was likely to happen to them in the near future.
One group was asked to imagine that they were keeping their good news a secret until they told their partner later in the day, while the rest of them imagined that they were currently unable to reach their partner and were therefore unable to tell them until later in the day.
Whether it’s an engagement announcement, a new job, or even a lottery win, we often want to share the good news as soon as possible (stock image)
People who imagined “wanting” to hide information to make the revelation surprising were more active than when they were unable to reveal the information due to other factors.
Lead author Michael Slepian said: “Decades of research on secrecy suggests that it is harmful to our well-being, but this work has only examined keeping secrets that have negative effects on our lives.”
“Is secrecy inherently bad for our well-being or do the negative effects of secrecy tend to stem from negative secret keeping?”
“Although negative secrets are far more common than positive secrets, some of life’s most joyful occasions begin as secrets, including secret marriage proposals, pregnancy, surprise gifts, and exciting news.”
An analysis of another experiment found that people kept positive secrets in particular for personal reasons, not because they felt compelled by external pressures to keep the information hidden.
In contrast to negative or embarrassing secrets, positive secrets make people feel more “alive” when they choose to keep the information to themselves.
“People often keep positive secrets for their own pleasure, or to make the surprise more exciting,” Slepian said.
“Rather than relying on external pressures, positive sacraments are often chosen due to personal desires and internal motivations.
“When we feel that our actions stem from our own desires and not from external pressures, we also feel prepared to face whatever lies ahead.
“People sometimes go to great lengths to orchestrate the revelation of a positive secret to make it more exciting.
“This kind of surprise can be very pleasant, but surprise is our most fleeting emotion.
“Having extra time — days, weeks, or even longer — to imagine the joyful surprise on another person’s face allows us more time with the exciting moment, even if it’s only in our minds.”
The results were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
(Tags for translation) Daily Mail