How does someone else's success affect relationships? Scientists found the answer

Scientists have studied how people react to the success and failure of their loved ones or conversational partners. The research was conducted by specialists from Rice University and Bayes Business School, analyzing the results of 9 studies involving a total of 8,229 people.

As it turned out, if an interlocutor talks about their failure, people are more inclined to share their own misfortunes as well. Conversely, when another person shares good news or success, they act more cautiously rather than immediately sharing their own achievements.

The researchers note that people adjust information about themselves not only by thinking about what kind of impression they will leave, but also to avoid hurting the interlocutor's feelings.

In one of the studies, 87 percent of participants stated that they would share their own experience after a colleague mentioned experiencing a failure. On the other hand, when the interlocutor spoke about their success, 70 percent of participants were ready to share their own achievement.

This difference was particularly evident in communication with people the participants liked. When an interlocutor failed, people tried to mention their own similar experiences in order to support them. Conversely, when the interlocutor succeeded, they delivered their good news in a toned-down manner, shared it later, or kept it a secret altogether.

In a final online experiment, where both people had experienced a failure, 96 percent of participants shared their experiences. When both parties achieved success, this figure stood at 73 percent.

The researchers do not yet know for sure how much such approaches actually help in supporting the interlocutor. Future studies will examine how interlocutors react to people intentionally talking about their own successes or failures to others.