We’re living in a time of negativity overload, both in the news and our conversations with friends and family. I’m sure you’ve found yourself being all sorts of negative many times over (I know I have!), but this doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a negative person. This can be attributed instead to a psychological phenomenon called the negativity bias, and here’s how knowing about it will help you overcome it.
What’s the deal with our negativity bias?
In his book Hardwiring Happiness, Dr. Rick Hansen sums up the concept of negativity bias perfectly when saying:
“The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences, but like Teflon for positive experiences.”
A quick real life example – you’ve just received your performance review from your boss. It was pretty positive as a whole, but she threw in a few comments about where you could improve. Rather than feeling happy about the positive, you hone in on the negative stuff she said, and feel pretty bummed with the outcome overall.
The impact of negativity bias
Research has found that negative emotions impact us almost three times more than positive ones. Some of this may be due to the fact that as humans, we’re naturally wired to pay more attention to negative experiences.
This is a basic survival mechanism leftover from our caveman days, as it helped us deal with the possibility of danger, such as a saber-toothed tiger lurking in the bushes. But today, 99.9% of the time there isn’t any imminent danger lurking in the bushes!
Negative experiences etch their way very quickly into our long term memory. And that has impacts on our health. These experiences live in our bodies, leading to depression, anxiety, and sometimes physical ailments.
There’s also a direct connection between what we see, talk about and focus on, to how we feel. It is soooo horribly draining to be constantly bombarded with negativity from so many sources, such as what we’re all experiencing right now.
We’re addicted to negativity
Have you ever had someone send you a text message saying ‘We need to talk’, and your mind immediately goes to the worst?
Now back in the day, that quick trigger to the worst served its purpose of keeping us safe from the saber-toothed tiger. But today, it just keeps us tied down to feeling terrible.
It’s actually quite difficult to shift to the positive as we’re addicted to negativity. Negativity gives our brains a jolt by activating our endorphin and dopamine chemicals; a hit to our systems that keeps us going back for more.
Not sure this is true? Then think about why the news constantly focuses on all the bad things happening. It’s because it keeps viewers coming back for more, which keeps their ratings up. As the saying in mainstream media goes, “If it bleeds, it leads.”
Imagine a world where the media devoted more time to positivity, focusing on COVID-19 survival rates, heartwarming stories of survivors, and people stepping up to support those in need. How would this impact our feelings and mindset? Positively I bet!
How to slay the negativity bias
While it’s hard, here are a few practical steps to dealing with negativity that will hopefully help you shift your focus.
Acknowledge it – understand and accept negativity bias exists, and it’s just your brain’s way of trying to keep you safe.
Get distracted – divert your attention to something you enjoy that is more positive and productive.
Get inspired – reflect back on three inspiring things that happened today. Or use Mr Google to find inspirational stories, or visit your favorite motivational speaker’s website. Embedding as many positive pictures and stories into your mind is important.
Place limits – try to place boundaries on how much news and social media you engage with.
Seek out positive people - surround yourself with people who are encouraging and enjoy looking on the bright side of life.
I hope this information has given you some insight into the negativity bias. Being aware of this phenomenon gives us the ability to first acknowledge it, and then choose differently to how we respond. Best of luck!