Studies suggest that the rude behaviour of some colleagues can rub off on to other people. Photo / Thinkstock
Studies suggest that the rude behaviour of some colleagues can rub off on to other people. Photo / Thinkstock
Bad manners can be contagious, a study suggests. It found that those who experience rudeness in the workplace are more likely to be impolite to colleagues.
Scientists observed graduate students practising negotiation with classmates. They found that those who rated their initial negotiation partner as rude were more likely tobe rated as rude by a later partner.
In another experiment, students observed one of two staged roleplays, one polite the other impolite. They then had to identify real and fake words from a list.
Participants who had observed the impolite roleplay identified the rude words on the list as real words significantly faster, the Journal of Applied Psychology reports.
Finally, the researchers found that rude behaviour can influence how we respond to others. Participants were asked to answered a fictitious customer email that was neutral in tone. Those who watched the impolite interaction were more likely to be hostile in their responses.
Lead author Trevor Foulk, of the University of Florida, said: "When you experience rudeness, it makes rudeness more noticeable. Part of the problem is that we are generally tolerant of these behaviours, but they're actually really harmful.
"Rudeness has an incredibly powerful negative effect on the workplace."
