Newswise — On Wednesday morning Americans awoke to a new President and Vice-President, that is, if they went to sleep at all on election night! For some Americans, there will jubilation and celebration, but for others, the ones whose candidates lost, there may be feelings of failure, loss and disaffection, says a Temple University psychologist.
"The new President and Vice-President themselves will enjoy a celebration of mighty scale, following over a year of continuous campaigning," says Frank Farley, L.H. Carnell Professor at Temple and former President of the American Psychological Association. "Handling such an ascent to the highest peak of power in the world will tax their emotional constitutions, as well as stretch their generosity, selflessness and gratitude toward everyone who helped get them there.
Farley said the winning candidates will now have the unquestioned certainty that they have won but all the future responsibilities are rushing to them.
"One change from the year of campaigning is that in a sense they will go forward in competition with themselves rather than the other candidates, the new competition being what they will accomplish versus what they said they will accomplish," he says.
But, while there is little to be concerned about from the psychological side for the winning candidates and their supporters in all the elections, nationally and locally across the country, it is those who lost, and their committed supporters, where powerful feelings of failure, loss and disaffection may arise, Farley warns.
"Learning from and recovering from loss are essential features of life, and can become sources of great strength and renewal," he says. "I have a simple formula for success in life: 'Success = Self-Knowledge + Motivation.' If you fail, learn something about yourself from it. Evaluate it against your basic values, interests, strengths and weaknesses, and make it add to your knowledge about yourself. If you lose in some venture, in any aspect of your life, learn from it, and then act upon that new knowledge.
Farley points out that when some people lose, they blow it off and don't think any more about it. They may be mad about it, he adds, but sensible and ultimately successful people tend to reflect on "What happened there?"
"Successful people get better at it," says Farley. "A loss to them is information.
"There have been many candidates for many offices in this election, as well as many referenda supported or opposed by many deeply committed people, and for those who are on the losing side of a candidacy or an issue, there will be mourning," he concludes. "But you can move forward by turning that mourning into motivation and learn something about yourself from the experience."
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