The Scientific Reason Mean Girls Are So Popular
Characters like Regina George from the movie “Mean Girls” are popular on screen and in real life and new research reveals why. According to a new study from Oklahoma State University, both women and men prefer when their friends are cruel toward their enemies.
I guess it’s not fair to make assumptions about someone’s character based on their celebrity status or public image. Haley Baldwin and Kylie Jenner are both successful and influential young women, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are “mean girls” like people on TikTok are claiming.
It’s important to remember that we don’t really know these people personally, and judging them based on rumors or gossip is not productive or kind but if it is true it’s a great example for this new study!
According to the NY Post, researchers studied more than 11-hundred people in student and non-student communities to find out what behaviors they prefer in a same-sex bestie. Participants were asked to rate how much they like certain qualities in a best friend, including kindness, trustworthiness, indifference, similarity and impartiality in a conflict. And it turns out, a lot of people prefer friends who are nice to them and to strangers, but also “more vicious” or at least indifferent, to their adversaries.
Study authors explain this is because most of us choose to have friends for “preferential support.” So we tend to want friends who support us and also undermine our rivals, or at least get vicious when talking about our horrible boss or the ex who did us wrong.
Source: NY Post
