# Life hacks from the dark side

“So, Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.”

— Dark Helmet

In a recent article, the unusually well-researched comedy site Cracked.com discussed “[5 scientific reasons the dark side will always win](http://www.cracked.com/article_18956_5-scientific-reasons-dark-side-will-always-win.html),” including:

*   Clenching your fists and thinking evil thoughts can increase strength and willpower. (Hung & Labroo 2011, Schubert 2004, Gray 2010)
*   Particular “power poses” raise testosterone and lower cortisol levels (in both men and women) and increase feelings of power and tolerance for risk. (Carney et al. 2010)
*   Boosts in pride can allow you to work longer and harder on “effortful and hedonically negative” tasks. (Williams & DeSteno 2008)
*   Negative moods can decrease gullibility, increase persuasiveness and social influence, and improve the accuracy of eyewitness recollections. (Forgas 2007, Forgas 2008, Forgas et al. 2005)

Perhaps, then, it could be useful to intentionally cultivate a Mysterious Dark Side, or just ask yourself “What would Voldemort do?” once in a while (please do not murder anyone). I’m definitely going to be giving some of these a try; fist-clenching and power-posing are easy, and as a source of evil thoughts and pride, I already have a dark lord alter-ego I could channel when necessary (I’ll probably need to flesh out his character a bit more than I have so far).

The Cracked.com article mostly links to news stories, so, for your convenience, here are the original papers they refer to:

*   Frank, Mark G. and Gilovich, Thomas (1988). “[The Dark Side of Self- and Social Perception: Black Uniforms and Aggression in Professional Sports.](http://people.uncw.edu/tothj/PSY355/Frank-Black%20Uniforms-JPSP-1988.pdf)” _Journal of Personality and Social Psychology_, 54(1), 74-85.
    
*   Hung, Iris W. and Labroo, Aparna A. (2011). “[From Firm Muscles to Firm Willpower: Understanding the Role of Embodied Cognition in Self-Regulation.](http://atlas.ai/swag/hung-labroo-2011.pdf)” _Journal of Consumer Research_, 37(6), 1046-1064.
    
*   Gray, Kurt (2010). “[Moral Transformation: Good and Evil Turn the Weak Into the Mighty.](http://www.mpm.umd.edu/Gray%20-%202010%20-%20Moral%20Transformation.pdf)” _Social Psychological and Personality Science_, 1(3), 253-258.
    
*   Carney, Dana R., Cuddy, Amy J.C., and Yap, Andy J. (2010). “[Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance.](http://atlas.ai/swag/carney-et-al-2010.pdf)” _Psychological Science_, 21(10), 1363–1368.
    
*   Schubert, Thomas W. (2004). “[The Power In Your Hand: Gender Differences In Bodily Feedback From Making a Fist.](http://www.igroup.org/schubert/papers/schubert_pspb04.pdf)” _Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin_, 30(6), 757-769.
    
*   Tracy, Jessica L. and Robins, Richard W. (2008). “[The Nonverbal Expression of Pride: Evidence for Cross-Cultural Recognition.](http://ubc-emotionlab.ca/wp-content/images/2008/03/tracy-robins-jpsp-2008-pride-culture.pdf)” _Journal of Personality and Social Psychology_, 94(3), 516-530.
    
*   Williams, Lisa A. and DeSteno, David (2008). “[Pride and Perseverance: The Motivational Role of Pride.](http://www.socialemotions.org/page5/files/Williams.DeSteno.2008.pdf)” _Journal of Personality and Social Psychology_, 94(6), 1007–1017.
    
*   Williams, Lisa A. and DeSteno, David (2009). “[Pride: Adaptive Social Emotion or Seventh Sin?](http://www.socialemotions.org/page5/files/Williams.DeSteno.2009.pdf)” _Psychological Science_, 20(3), 284-288.
    
*   Forgas, Joseph P. (2007). “[When sad is better than happy: Negative affect can improve the quality and effectiveness of persuasive messages and social influence strategies.](http://www.elsevier.com/authored_subject_sections/S05/S05_361/misc/JESP_Forgas2.pdf)” _Journal of Experimental Social Psychology_, 43(4), 513-528.
    
*   Forgas, Joseph P. and East, Rebekah. (2008). “[On being happy and gullible: Mood effects on skepticism and the detection of deception.](http://atlas.ai/swag/forgas-east-2008.pdf)” _Journal of Experimental Social Psychology_, 44(5), 1362-1367.
    
*   Forgas, Joseph P., Laham, Simon M., and Vargas, Patrick T. (2005). “[Mood effects on eyewitness memory: Affective influences on susceptibility to misinformation.](http://www.elsevier.com/authored_subject_sections/S05/S05_361/misc/JESP_Forgas.pdf)” _Journal of Experimental Social Psychology_, 41(6), 574-588.
    
*   Wolff, Sarah E. and Puts, David A. (2010). “[Vocal masculinity is a robust dominance signal in men.](http://www.putslab.psu.edu/pdfs/wolff_bes.pdf)” _Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology_, 64(10), 1673-1683.