Negativity Bias

Monty Python encouraged us to always look on the bright side of life. We can't always be an eternal optimist, but it's not always great to focus on the negatives.

Do you ever wonder where the phrase ‘Curiosity killed the cat’ came from? Our brains are hardwired for negativity. It’s a natural evolutionary process honed over thousands of years to keep us alive. Our ancestors were constantly exposed to life-threatening events. In past times, curiosity really did kill the cat. So people who were more risk averse survived. And passed those risk averse genes down. People who were curious, who took the time to be curious, well they didn’t always make it.

Of course, we like to think that we are rational human beings. That our decision making is based on hard facts and indisputable logic. But the fact that our brains are hardwired for negativity means that we have an in-built tendency to focus on the negative in any given situation, rather than paying attention to positive events or experiences. We learn more from our mistakes than our successes, and as a consequence we make decisions based on negative more so than positive information. This is referred to a negativity bias.

Negativity bias affects our motivation and ability to complete tasks. This is through a phenomenon known as loss aversion, which is another cognitive bias.

We are more motivated to finish a task to avoid a loss or negative outcome, than we are to gain something. The ‘pain’ of losing is psychologically more powerful than the ‘pleasure’ of winning. Think about your motivation to do something positive like eating well or doing more exercise (or getting your patients to floss), compared with your motivation not to fail at something. Whether something is framed in a positive or negative way can influence how motivated we are to complete a task.

The problem with negativity bias is that it becomes a feedback loop. We feel and react to negative events more strongly than positive ones. Negativity drives our action, and we focus on negativity at the expense of positivity. And that impacts on our wellbeing. We need to make a conscious action to focus on positive events and savour the emotions that come from that positivity. The power of positive thinking. It’s important to fully engage in the positive emotions at the time, but also to be able to reflect on them later. That’s because negative emotions are so powerful they are quickly stored in our long-term memory, but we must work harder to lock away those positive emotions.

It often happens that we have one bad experience during the course of a day or week, and we allow that to override all of the good experiences. Magnifying negativity is harmful to our wellbeing.

So take the time to really savour the great moments when they happen.

Finally, when we find ourselves in a negative frame of mind, try to look for opportunities to reframe the situation in a more positive light. Don’t focus on mistakes that can’t be changed. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.