Role model. (Photo: flickr.com/home_of_chaos)

Even more so than other industries, tech startups are full of incurable optimists, prone to pronouncements about how this SoMoLo app is totally going to change grocery shopping forever and ever, man. Moderation isn’t exactly enshrined as a virtue, and everyone wants his very own Steve Jobs effect.

Hence, we can’t help but feel bad for anyone whose boss gets his hands on a copy of Trevor Blake’s new book, Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life, in which he apparently argues that Negative Nancies are actually quite bad for you. According to a recent interview with Inc.:

In the book, he describes how neuroscientists have learned to measure brain activity when faced with various stimuli, including a long gripe session.

“The brain works more like a muscle than we thought,” Blake says. “So if you’re pinned in a corner for too long listening to someone being negative, you’re more likely to behave that way as well.”

Now, to be fair to Mr. Blake, he does specify that, ”There’s a big difference between bringing your attention to something that’s awry and a complaint.” There is, however, a pretty good chance that the pathologically upbeat will not listen to that part, and will expect you to quadruple app store downloads by sometime next week, regardless of your trifling concerns.

(h/t Smart Planet)

Follow Kelly Faircloth on Twitter or via RSS. kfaircloth@observer.com