Negativity bias

Negativity bias is a term used to describe the tendency humans have toward focusing on negative information and events more than on positive ones. Negativity bias is a widely accepted phenomenon in psychology and other social sciences, such as economics. Many different psychological studies have provided evidence that supports negativity bias. Negativity bias affects people of all ages and backgrounds, even infants, but older populations may have reduced negativity bias. Negativity bias affects mood and emotions. It can also affect relationships and even society as a whole. Some psychologists believe that people who understand and know to look for negativity bias can help themselves and others recognize and correct the phenomenon.

Background

Many psychologists and other social scientists believe that humans have evolved to focus on negative events, emotions, outcomes, and information more than positive ones. Scientists believe that negativity bias evolved in humans because it helped keep them safe at a time when they were more likely to be exposed to threats from nature such as wild animals and severe weather events. If a person missed a threat from a wild animal or a negative weather event, they could be injured or die. For that reason, over many generations, negativity bias most likely became a dominant trait that helped keep people alive. Although negativity bias was once a useful trait for humans, the changes in their lives have made this trait more harmful than helpful to people. Negativity bias can prevent humans from enjoying the good parts of life and taking risks that might actually be helpful.

Overview

Negativity bias affects the way people perceive their present and remember. Negativity bias may make a person more likely to remember a negative aspect of an event rather than a positive one. It might also cause a person to remember a time when they were embarrassed or sad. Overall, humans are more likely to remember events tied to strong emotions. However, even among emotional experiences, humans are more likely to remember events during which they felt negative emotions. Although negativity bias can cause people to focus on negative information more than positive information, it does not necessarily cause them to focus constantly on the negative instead of the positive. Yet, more good events and positive information are required to make one happy; bad events and negative information may make one upset.

Some examples of negativity bias seem to be common among many people in modern society. For example, there is the situation in which a person receives feedback from an employer. The person receives five pieces of positive feedback and one piece of negative feedback. The person will most likely focus on the negative feedback, even though the positive feedback greatly outweighed the negative. When a person has an argument with a friend at the beginning of the week, the rest of that person’s week may be good, with no other problems or issues. Yet, the person who had the argument will most likely say that it was a bad week because the one bad event overshadows the rest. A third example might include an adult thinking back to high school. That person might remember a single embarrassing event from high school rather than the numerous positive experiences that person had. These examples all show the way humans tend to focus on negative information and events rather than on positive information and events.

Scientists believe that negativity bias is common among all different groups of people, including different genders and ages. Some studies have indicated that negativity bias even occurs in infants. Some research has suggested, however, that negativity bias lessens in humans as they age. In some studies, scientists have found that older adults are more likely to remember positive information than negative information. According to these studies, cognitive impairment—which can also occur in older adults—does not seem to explain the change, which psychologists call the “positivity effect.” Some social scientists believe that the positivity effect may occur because of an awareness of a time constraint on the time left to live.

Negativity bias influences many parts of people’s lives. It may cause some people to experience anxiety and other negative emotions. Those with a particularity strong negativity bias may also have trouble in social situations and at work. Scientists believe this is partially because recalling negative emotions is likely to induce negative emotions. Negativity bias also influences personal relationships. For example, a person who meets another person will most likely focus more on the other person’s negative traits than their positive traits. Furthermore, negativity bias can also influence the political candidates that people choose. Research suggests that people with a stronger negativity bias may be more likely to choose political candidates who will maintain the status quo and tradition. Some researchers have also noted that negativity bias can affect international relations and even influence geopolitical decision-making, including decisions about whether to engage in armed conflict.

Negativity bias influences society as well as individuals. For example, because of the acceptance of negativity bias, political campaigns often focus on the negative traits or actions of opponents rather than on the positive traits or actions of a candidate. Furthermore, negative news stories about accidents, wars, and natural disasters are far more popular than positive new stories. Similarly, popular pieces of entertainment often include a great deal of turmoil and drama.

Loss aversion is another psychological theory that is closely related to negativity bias. Loss aversion is the idea that humans are more concerned about potential or actual loss than they are about potential or actual gain. For example, psychologists have conducted studies in which they ask people about hypothetical jobs and salaries. An example might be if a person were offered two different jobs. In Job A, the person would make $80,000 per year and all the other employees at the company make $50,000 per year. In Job B, the person would make $100,000 per year, but all the other people at the company would make $150,000 per year. In similar situations, people were more likely to choose the job most similar to Job A, even though the person would actually earn more in Job B.

Bibliography

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