Your Brain is Biased to Negativity. Here’s How to be More Positive

Your co-worker surprised you with a chocolate chip cookie, but a teammate took a dig at your report. As the day goes on, you’re more likely to dwell on the criticism than the act of kindness.

Negative events feel more psychologically intense than positive ones, thanks to a cognitive tendency called the negativity bias. That’s true even when events are of equal weight.

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“If you’re walking to get water and you encounter a tiger, it’s a great idea to stay focused on the tiger” and not on the pretty sunset, said Alison Ledgerwood, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis.

That focus “generalizes to any negative information, even when it’s not tiger-level danger,” she said.

Nowadays, most of us don’t worry about being eaten by wild animals but still face threats that can feel overwhelming, researchers said.

“Many people have lost their jobs, and people can’t access health care that they need,” Ledgerwood said. “I would put those kinds of things more at the level of tigers. … These are really negative things that need our attention.”

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