Everybody likes a compliment.【C1】_____, how many of us have had a kind, complimentary thought about another individual in our daily lives, but never took the time to express it directly to that person? In all【C2】_____, quite a few of us.

Some researchers examined why we【C3】_____away from complimenting people, 【C4】__people we don’t know. They asked participants to【C5】__the fourth person they saw in a particular area, and give that person a specific compliment. And they also measured what emotional【C6】__participants thought their comment would have on someone, and the emotional impact it actually had. In another version of the study, they asked additional participants, who would【C7】_____have to compliment anyone nor be on the receiving end of a compliment in the study, to imagine how someone would feel after getting a compliment from another person.

The results revealed that we avoid complimenting people【C8】_____we misjudge how they’ll react, making light of how much a compliment can【C9】__someone and magnifying how【C10】_____we expect someone to feel in response to it.

But why do we underrate the【C11】_____power of our words? As the researchers found, we’re【C12】__to feel nervous and doubtful about our【C13】__to skillfully compliment someone, which influences our accurate estimation of how someone will feel in response. Notably, the additional participants who only had to【C14】__how someone would react to a compliment were actually better【C15】__than the actual people doing the complimenting. These additional participants weren’t nervous, which left them more【C16】__of gauging how people would feel after receiving a compliment. On top of this, there was evidence that after giving someone a compliment, it can【C17】_____our own mood.

In general, we all have a powerful tool of human good will at our【C18】_____, words of genuine and thoughtful appreciation that take just a few moments to give.【C19】__the next time you【C20】_____how kind someone was in a brief interaction or even if you just like their shoes, try to let them know. It’ll produce a more beneficial effect than you may think, for them and for you.

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