Negativity Bias 

The negative bias is our tendency to pay more attention to the negative aspects of things, we’re also more prone to dwell on things that go wrong, compared to the ones that are successful. This phenomenon helps explain why negative first impressions can be so hard to overcome and why traumas can have such lingering effects on our lives. 

The Science Behind It 

This is not necessarily our fault, or controllable. It is programmed into our brains from years of evolution. It’s our natural instinct to be in “survival mode” because cavemen basically relied on that instinct to continue living. Cavemen along with many others of course… 

We Aren’t Cavemen Anymore

Our focus on negative things is rooted in how our attention works. Although we don’t need these survival instincts to survive anymore, it still affects our day-to-day thoughts and decisions we make. You might be asking yourself, if we’re hardwired to think negatively, all of the time…. How will we ever be happy? 

Break the Pattern

There are several things you can do to overcome negativity bias, although it takes energy and motivation. 

• Be aware of the negativity bias. Know it’s there, and understand what it means, use this to process your thoughts accordingly. 

• Establish new patterns. If you feel yourself going into a negative thought. Stop and reframe, think about the true reason for this particular thought. 

• Replay the positive times. It’s easy to think about negatives all of the time, and dwell on what you could have done better. But, it’s important to take into account the good times. If you’re only concentrating on the negatives, you can’t expect to be happy.