Are negative people deeper, more evolved?

 

What a relief to find an article in the current Live Happy magazine on this very topic.  Devoured it!  

At church camp retreats & in support circles, folks invariably scoffed when I brought up that it was an article of faith in my family that my older sister & oldest brother were both infinitely smarter than I could hope to be.  A belief confirmed by the undeniable fact both were darker, more negative than I could hope to be on my worst day.  Both readily dismissed their baby sister as a hopelessly dim bulb, witnessed by my undeniably sunny nature & chronically positive attitude.   

Since Mim excelled - or so her baby sister assumed - at the tough subjects like math & Latin, while my As were in academically fluffy - or so I thought - History & English, I bit.  Hook, line & sinker. 
  
Not surprising.  Positive therapy was virtually unknown before 1968, when I was a high school junior.  And even then, it was in its fledgling stage.   

Maslow & Rogers, Diener & Gilbert, Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi were all unknown to me.  Heck - half of them were still in grad school!  Imagine the reception I would have gotten suggesting that the University of Pennsylvania would ever boast courses in Authentic Happiness - would have been proof I was intellectually off the rails! Penn?  Ha!


Nope!  Establishment psychologists back then had so little regard for positive feelings - joy curiosity love - they weren't even integrated into existing models of emotions.  Yikes!

I'm no expert, but I've come up with a few theories on why negative people might be regarded as smarter, deeper, more evolved.  

• It goes against the grain for a positive person to hold superior grades or other accomplishments - real, exaggerasted or just flat-out delusional - over fellow students and/or co-workers.  
• Ditto being snarky & snide about others' accomplishments or lack thereof.  Not that positive people aren't above feeling pushed to be The Best, The Thinnest, The Most Athletic Attractive Successful.  They just don't take pleasure in making others feel The Least...
• People tend to trust negative people more than positive.  It seems that the worse they are, the more they seem trustworthy, while the chronically upbeat are often viewed with suspicion as passive-aggressive & manipulative.
• It's assumed everyone has a hidden agenda.  When you don't, sadly it's not unusual for others to tend to mentally assign you one!

It took me many years - decades - but I finally came to terms with being the naturally happy, sunny soul I am.  I tried to be more like my two sibs, but couldn't pull it off.  Praise be, I was well past such nonsense before meeting John!  


By my late 50s, I was at peace with being an unrepentant Pollyanna, but still resigned to being a lesser version of my dark-souled sister & oldest brother.  Until...   A few years ago, I came across a box of Mom's with a stash of our high school report cards.  

Stunned!  Neither were honors students!  Lots of high Bs & a couple As - high 80s, but that was it.  Smart?  Yes.  Brilliant?  Hardly.  

Are negative people deeper, smarter, more evolved?  Gauging by recent studies - and my brother & sis -  nope.  But they sure did sound it!