Naysayers rise to the top because we naturally treat them as leaders

Negative, critical people often ascend to positions of leadership because their disregard for social niceties makes them seem powerful, research suggests.

Eileen Chou at the University of Virginia explored people’s attitudes towards “naysayers” – those who express negative, critical views, and “cheerleaders” – those who express positive, supportive views.

Across 11 experiments, she found that naysayers were considered more powerful and suitable for leadership roles than cheerleaders.

In one experiment, students were asked to read positive and negative restaurant reviews. They rated the author of…