This week Jenn Heil won the silver medal in Women’s Moguls with a blistering run that fell just short of first place. At the finish line after the final run, she was flanked by the two Americans who finished first and third. As the two Americans celebrated wildly, I was struck by the restrained and evidently disappointed Jenn Heil. As the Americans on either side of her jumped up and down, cheered at the crowd and smiled from ear to ear, Jenn Heil’s body language displayed something other than celebration. Her smile appeared forced, her body language was subdued. Yet she had just performed brilliantly, won Canada’s first medal in the games, and done something most of us could never have done no matter how much training and practice we were given.
In 1995 Medvec, Madey and Gilovich explored the notion that bronze medalists are actually happier than silver medallists in a study published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. They argued that, while silver medalists have done objectively better than third-place finishers, they compare themselves to gold medalists, while those winning the bronze medal compare themselves to those in 4th place. Medvec, Madey and Gilovich analysed the facial emotions displayed by silver and bronze medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics. As predicted they found that the bronze medalists looked a lot happier than the silver medallists in the immediate aftermath of learning how they had placed; the effect was still evident, though less pronounced, on the medal podium later.
This tendency for those who have done objectively better, to feel worse, is an example of counterfactual thinking – when thoughts of what might have been influence our emotional reactions. Medvec et al also asked bronze and silver Empire State Game medalists about their thoughts after winning their medals – as expected the silver medalists reported more thoughts of almost doing better, than the bronze medalists did.
To read the full article see Medvec, V., Madey, S., & Gilovich, T. (1995). When less is more: Counterfactual thinking and satisfaction among Olympic medalists. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 603-610, available here.
