Maybe the Fonz didn’t know what he was doing, because researchers have found that being the coolest cat in the room doesn’t always do you favors, while a flash of fury might just help tip the balance in your favor.

A United Press International Story reported that the University of California, Berkeley, conducted experiments that found anger can help you get a better deal, but overdoing it can nullify the positive effects.

In two experiments, subjects negotiated over how a sum of money would be split, with a “giver” one side holding most of the power and making lowball offers to manipulate the emotions of the nonpowerful “receiver.”

Half of the receivers were informed that their last anger report would be shown to proposers before proposers made offers.

The results, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, shows that receivers inflate their anger levels when they know that proposers will see their display.

“Receivers do get a better offer from proposers as long as proposers have reason to believe that their partners’ feelings are genuine,” the researchers say in a statement.

So science says it pays to bottle up your emotions and try to play it cool until you just explode in a rage of righteous virtue.

Consumer anger can pay off, or backfire [UPI]
(Photo:onlymefairmay)

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