If you have a power – hungry wolf personality you will be more stressed out by a defeat. Being defeated was a stressful experience for these power hungry personalities.
Winning the contest had an opposite effect on these people. They reacted with a drop in their stress hormone level.
Similarly, the sheep personalities who are not motivated by power reacted in the opposite way.
Being defeated was less stressful for them. Interestingly their stress hormone levels increased when they won; clearly indicating that they were stressed out when they came out on top.
"As our results show, one man's poison is another man's cake," said Schultheiss, associate professor of psychology. "The power-hungry 'wolves' among our participants were hit hardest by a defeat, whereas the 'sheep' couldn't care less about being beaten."
"The sheep were really uncomfortable with winning," Schultheiss said. "This runs counter to the idea that everybody likes coming out at the top of the heap. That's a really surprising finding for us."
