Compliments increase happiness

Several studies show that participants underestimated how happy another person would be to hear praise and overestimated how cringe-worthy they would find the exchange. 

• Participants worry they will articulate the compliment wrongly. But the research shows that the recipient only cares how nice the praise is.
• Another fear is that overcomplimenting might make some people bored of your praise or find it tiresome. However, even this reaction is far less likely than we think.

Receiving sincere and well-expressed compliments can feel very good. But our anxiety about how others may perceive our words can stop us from giving compliments as we don't want to come across as patronising or flattering. 

Yet, studies show that ou...