Do-Gooders Get Voted Off Island First: People Don't Really Like Unselfish Colleagues

[The Straight Story]

Do-Gooders Get Voted Off Island First: People Don't Really Like Unselfish Colleagues, Psychologists Find

ScienceDaily (Aug. 20, 2010) — You know those goody-two-shoes who volunteer for every task and thanklessly take on the annoying details nobody else wants to deal with?

That's right: Other people really can't stand them.

Four separate studies led by a Washington State University social psychologist have found that unselfish workers who are the first to throw their hat in the ring are also among those that coworkers most want to, in effect, vote off the island.

"It's not hard to find examples but we were the first to show this happens and have explanations for why," said Craig Parks, lead author of "The Desire to Expel Unselfish Members from the Group" in the current Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The phenomenon has implications for business work groups, volunteer organizations, non-profit projects, military units, and environmental efforts, an interest of Parks' coauthor and former PhD student, Asako Stone.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100823101110.htm

[RandomThoughts]

1. I would guess it is because it gets them to think about themselves.

Easier to see a bad person then say you are better then that, then to have to think on someone doing better.

So you have to find something ridiculous to rationalize why you are better, judgment.

hence why all the ridiculous judgments pop up in some groups.

[county worker]

2. Once you vote them out you have to do the stuff yourself so they will never vote them off.

They like to bash the do good-er but they take advantage of the good done.

[ArcticFox]

3. Nice guys finish last

[Fumesucker]

4. A few more points from the piece..

Parks and Stone found that unselfish colleagues come to be resented because they "raise the bar" for what is expected of everyone. As a result, workers feel the new standard will make everyone else look bad.

It doesn't matter that the overall welfare of the group or the task at hand is better served by someone's unselfish behavior, Parks said.

"What is objectively good, you see as subjectively bad," he said.

The do-gooders are also seen as deviant rule breakers. It's as if they're giving away Monopoly money so someone can stay in the game, irking other players to no end.

[Nay]

5. There are unholy numbers of people who hate goodness and niceness

of any kind. They resent it because it shows them up, and rather than change, they wipe out the do-gooder.

[LostinVA]

6. As a "Survivor" watcher from Day One -- that headline is wrong

Bossy and backstabbing people get voted off the most, unless people want to take them to the end so they can win against them (ie Russell).