Suggesting Activities With Either Negative Or Positive Mentalities

I just insulted a friend by sending something to her that had bad insinuations. I wasn't focusing on that 'bad' part of the video so much - there were a few different facets of the video - but I recognize the mistake. In hindsight, I shouldn't have sent the video.

It got me thinking: is there a situation in which inactivity better when interacting with people? My old school friends used to joke that all the "cool" people at secondary school were so scared of doing something that might be perceived as unpopular within their peers, that they stopped doing anything at all, so that they could be accepted. They were a shell of their former self, in the name of popularity.

It all made me come to the conclusion: inactivity is best when you're dealing with someone with a negative mentality. People with negative mentalities dwell on the bad things that happen in their lives. In an extreme case, people with the highest form of negative mentality perceive the world through a sliding scale of 'bad' up to 'neutral'. Neutral things are things that didn't have anything negative associated with them. With this extreme case of person, doing nothing with them would be the best bet, as only that would always ensure the best result: which is 'neutral'.

On the other hand, as much activity as possible is best when you're dealing with the extreme end of a positive mentality. In their heads, everything ranges from 'neutral' all the way up to 'amazing'. If you do a lot of things, at worst it'll be considered as 'neutral', and at best it'll be considered as 'amazing'. In this way, the best strategy is to do loads of things and see what sticks.

In the end, the most extreme versions of a negative or positive mentality probably don't really exist in reality (or if it does, I'd wager in very small populations of people). Most of us are probably in the middle of the spectrum (if I had to guess, most of us are probably slightly towards the negative side, due to a risk averse survival trait. But maybe I'm just projecting). This means that really, you'll usually need to do more positive things that positively impact the other person than negative. But still, it's an interesting thought of how to proceed next time you meet someone and wonder whether to put something by them. Maybe you'll consider it next time, when you're wondering whether to suggest/recommend something to someone?