Being a dork is n’t just destructive to everyone around you ; it ’s destructive to everyone who has to interact with anyoneyouinteract with . In 2015 , in theJournal of Applied Psychology , researchers from the University of Florida fence that rudeness spread out like the common cold . In short , germs of rudeness are everywhere , and it ’s as comfortable to capture other people ’s negativity as it is to catch the sniffles .
The first of three tests mensurate how masses acted in negotiations in a graduate course . People who perceived their first negotiation partner to be rude then turn around and roleplay more rudely to their next partner .
In other test , 47 undergrad were brought into the lab , ostensibly to complete a conclusion - make labor . One “ participant , ” engraft by the investigator , showed up belatedly . In one condition , the researcher leading the session reacted impolitely , telling the fake student to get out at once . In the other , the research worker calmly demand her to email to find a new time to complete the task . People who enter in the discourtesy condition were quick at identifying words associated with rudeness ( liketactlessorintrude ) in the figurer task than people who did n’t witness a rude interaction .
In the last test , 147 students played the role of an employee at a local bookshop in an on-line task . After watching a video of an fundamental interaction between two employees , they were asked to respond to customer emails , some of which were unmannered , some neutral , and some aggressive in timbre . witness rudeness made the educatee more potential to respond in a hostile manner to the rude e-mail .
All these results suggest that rudeness can be contagious , and that negative interaction discolour subsequent behavior toward other people . Now , all of these situations played out with scholarly person in management courses who enter in simulated lab interactions , so the results might not translate evenly to how multitude act in their offices or community . But it ’s never a sorry time to remind yourself : Do n’t be an asshat .