On Grumpiness

A University of South Wales researcher Professor Joe Forgas writes that while cheerfulness fosters creativity “negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world.” The professor’s experiments suggest that miserable people are far more superior at decision-making than their happy counterparts. As an individual who has often been accused of being grumpy, this is welcomed news because it brings perspective to a condition so universally misunderstood. Of course, there is the danger that I am simply embracing this information because it provides a convenient justification for my propensity for peevishness. But so be it.