Facial expression software confirms bronze medalists happier than silver
I did not see any mention of the type of sports they analysed. I think it makes a big difference, e.g. winning silver in a tournament type competition like basketball means you lost your last game, whereas winning bronze means you won your last game. On the other hand a 100 meter dash is 8 people racing all at the same time, so winning silver does not feel like losing gold as much to me. You still beat out the bronze medalist in direct competition.edit: but of course, it's also common that there are two big names in a competition, so winning silver in that case means you lost gold.