Well Duh

As a graduate student in psychology I generally find my area of academic pervue quite interesting. I enjoy learning about people and what makes them tick. And occassionally I come across some bit of research that makes me say.... well,duh! After reading about some fact that any person off the street would recognize as being true I wonder who picks these research ideas. Specifically, the article I just read concluded that people with low self-esteem who have failed at a task would prefer not to compare themselves to someone they know was more successful. Uh, yeah. If I felt badly about myself and then I failed a test, would I want my nose rubbed in it by being compared to someone who had an exceptionally high achievement? Can't we just use some common sense people?
But I guess asking for common sense may be a bit too much for people. Just ask any person who shot themselves while cleaning the gun after they failed to engage the safety. And this is just as bad. After looking at this I am going to go buy a gun to clean.