Listening to Complainers Is Bad for Your Brain

[TLV]

I saw this on LinkedIn's roundup today and thought it was interesting. Evidence against complainy-pantsism!

Research shows that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity--including viewing such material on TV--actually peels away neurons in the brain's hippocampus.

Typically, people who are complaining don't want a solution; they just want you to join in the indignity of the whole thing. You can almost hear brains clink when six people get together and start saying, 'Isn't it terrible?' This will damage your brain even if you're just passively listening. And if you try to change their behavior, you'll become the target of the complaint.

Link

Ignore the part about renting a private island to get away from complainers. That's just silly.

[Jamesqf]

And of course completely ignore any possibility that those complainers might actually have a point!

[arebelspy]

What if the complainer offers positive solutions?  MMM articles "complain" about consumer behavior (but offer another way.

In any case, people complaining definitely is not an enjoyable experpence for me, usually, so this article was interesting.

[woodpecker]

I agree on that.
At my workplace there is a bunch of people who keep on complaining and worrying all day about nothing. Same in TV.
TV is gone long since in Woodpeckers home, but I notice every time I come back from a sabbatical or long vacation that all the nagging at work drags me down considerably. Even more than working itself.

I think the best solution is to stay away from these guys as well as sell your TV.

[velocistar237]

And of course completely ignore any possibility that those complainers might actually have a point!

The article already addressed this.

But if you're running a company, don't you need to hear about anything that may have gone wrong? "There's a big difference between bringing your attention to something that's awry and a complaint," Blake says. "Typically, people who are complaining don't want a solution; they just want you to join in the indignity of the whole thing."

The thing to avoid is the negativity, not the content of the complaint. It's the difference between the attitude that things can't change and the attitude that things can change. One is negative and hopeless, and the other is positive and effective. One sign of a good leader is the ability to change the former into the latter.

[Jamesqf]

It's the difference between the attitude that things can't change and the attitude that things can change.

That leaves out the larger middle ground, the things that I can't change by myself, but which could be changed if I motivate enough people into helping with the change.  The first step in motivation is usually getting them to recognize that there's something wrong with the way things are - and that, of course, is complaining :-)

[velocistar237]

That leaves out the larger middle ground, the things that I can't change by myself, but which could be changed if I motivate enough people into helping with the change.  The first step in motivation is usually getting them to recognize that there's something wrong with the way things are - and that, of course, is complaining :-)

Or... you could motivate people without complaining. The whole point of the article is that complaints with a lot of negativity are counter-productive:

Even worse, being exposed to too much complaining can actually make you dumb. Research shows that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity--including viewing such material on TV--actually peels away neurons in the brain's hippocampus. "That's the part of your brain you need for problem solving," he says. "Basically, it turns your brain to mush."

[kisserofsinners]

I do deal a lot with complainers at work... I'm grateful to be in a satellite office and have minimal expositor.

It does affect me though...I regularly drug myself with anti anxiety meds and think about the Labyrinth with David Bowie.

I fully admit i am surrounded by jerks here and i choose (when i can remember) to see them all as David Bowie. Visualizing the hair and cod piece helps. All i have to do it keep reminding myself that they have no power over me and the bullshit just falls away. It's incredibly effective. :)

[Jamesqf]

Or... you could motivate people without complaining. The whole point of the article is that complaints with a lot of negativity are counter-productive:

If one doesn't "complain", then that is seen as demonstrating that things are perfectly all right just the way they are, which makes it pretty darned hard to motivate change.

I'd suggest that the supposed counterproductivity is measured by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.  Sure, it's negativity in their eyes: you are essentially telling them that they're doing something wrong, and it takes an exceptional person not to see that as negative.  "Happy are they that hear
their detractions and can put them to mending."

[Petruchio]

Huh, a study whose thesis is that people who complain makes you more stupid.

I suppose that if you kill a complainer, you can try to argue that it was in self-defense. After all complainig causes brain damage.

[Gerard]

If one doesn't "complain", then that is seen as demonstrating that things are perfectly all right just the way they are, which makes it pretty darned hard to motivate change.

I'd suggest that the supposed counterproductivity is measured by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. 

Your second point is important and needs to be taken into account in thinking about this, I think. I've seen how people who point out inequality, for example, are often described as whiners by those who benefit from that inequality (a certain presidential candidate comes to mind).

But, but, in my daily life, most of the complainers I run across are people who have no interest in changing the way things are. A good test -- I ask them, "What will you/we do about it?" and if they get pissed off, then yeah, they're Bad Complainers. Or if they suggest that the required change has to come entirely from someone else...

[velocistar237]

The best examples of good complaining I can think of are Roger Boisjoly and Rodney Rocha. I wish people had listened to their complaints.

A good test -- I ask them, "What will you/we do about it?" and if they get pissed off, then yeah, they're Bad Complainers. Or if they suggest that the required change has to come entirely from someone else...

I agree with James that sometimes the only thing you can do is raise your voice. The problem is when people complain only because it makes them feel better, and they aren't really interested in fixing anything. I believe those cases are far more common, and that's what the article is addressing: pointless, soul-sucking negativity.