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Do you have any secrets?
Like, deep, dark stuff that you haven’t told a soul?
Of course you have – in fact, according to a recent study, the chances are you don’t just have one, you have several.
That’s according to a new paper submitted to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Cognition, and published on the pre-print server PsyArXiv.
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In the study, which focuses on the differences on the weight of secrets depending on how frequently, and how purposefully you dwell on them, the researchers noted that the average person holds nine secrets, five of which they have never told anyone.
However, there is a caveat to this, in that in order to be eligible to participate in the study, you did have to have at least one secret.
As for the secrets themselves, classed as ‘moderately significant,’ keeping them tucked away can have a truly detrimental effect on a person’s wellbeing, as the authors explain in the paper:
“Secrets are on people’s minds more than they are held back in conversation,. Research suggests that such mind-wandering to secrets can be problematic for well-being, yet the mechanisms behind this link are still unclear.”
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Despite this though, the researchers found that deliberately fantasising about a secret might be a positive activity for an individual, but the mind wandering to it, or trying to process it could be more negative:
“Our findings suggest that the well-being costs of having a secret may be the result of a vicious cycle concerning negative cognitive and emotional processes about the secret. If people are deliberately bringing a secret to mind to fantasize or daydream, they may feel positive. However, if people deliberately engage with thoughts of the secret to process its meaning or impact, these thoughts may be linked to feeling negative in the moment, even if such engagement can ultimately help people in gaining resolution in the long run.”
But what are these ‘moderately significant’ secrets, anyway? Well, some of the most common were about discontent about their own bodies, their finances, an affair or a crush – perhaps explaining why fantasising may be a positive activity.
The takeaway? Your fantasies might make you feel good in the moment, but holding a secret from even your closest loved ones long-term?
That secret is probably going to make you miserable.
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