Your 'Meanest' Friend Might Be The One Who Loves You The Most According To Science

If you have a best friend, whom at times can’t stand because their harsh (though honest) words hurt like needles – you can’t help but assume that they are just being mean. Nevertheless, science proves that's not the case when it comes to your closest friends.

Actually, recent findings indicate that your 'meanest' friend is the one who really loves you and wants the best for you.

A research published in Psychological Science showed that people who make others experience negative feelings believe that the impact of those feelings will be beneficial for them in the long run when they have to make important decisions.

The research was conducted at the University of Plymouth, and it involved 140 adult participants. The researchers behind the study observed the participants' behavior during hypothetical situations: for example, by generating the fear of failure to a close friend who instead of studying for his/her exams is procrastinating his/her studying.

The scientists claimed that asking participants to take another individual’s point of view has raised the likelihood of them selecting negative experiences and feelings for the other person if they believed that that experience would be beneficial to them.

The findings of the study confirmed what scientists already believed – that people indeed might be “cruel to be kind”.

What was incredible was that affect worsening wasn't random but emotion-specific, according to López-Pérez, the lead author of the study. In line with some previous research, the results have shown that people hold specific expectations about the effects that particular emotions might have and about which feelings might be better for achieving different goals.

In other words, friends can sometimes be “mean” to you not because they don't love you, or they want to hurt you – but simply because they care for you. Their “meanness” comes out of selflessness and empathy.

So, share this post and tag your “meanest” friends to tell them how much you love and appreciate them for their honesty!

Via: thinkinghumanity.com